--- title: On seeing this, his Dogs took counsel together, and said, “It is tim… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics description: On seeing this, his Dogs took counsel together, and said, “It is time for us to be off, for if the master spare not his oxen, who work for his gain, how can we expect him to spare us?” Who acts: Dogs, counsel, master, oxen. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/8/28/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Three hundred Aesop’s fables](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/) / [Aesop’s Fables, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/8/) / 28 # Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 6, sentence 28 On seeing this, his Dogs took counsel together, and said, “It is time for us to be off, for if the master spare not his oxen, who work for his gain, how can we expect him to spare us?” **Who acts:** Dogs, counsel, master, oxen, we, storm · **What happens:** see, take, say, be, not spare, work · **To what, where:** this, counsel, time, oxen, storm, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Dogs, counsel, master, oxen), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg21:8:28 # text = On seeing this, his Dogs took counsel together, and said, “It is time for us to be off, for if the master spare not his oxen, who work for his gain, how can we expect him to spare us?” 1 On on SCONJ IN _ 2 mark _ _ 2 seeing see VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 7 advcl _ _ 3 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 2 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 5 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 6 nmod:poss _ _ 6 Dogs dog NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 nsubj _ _ 7 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 counsel counsel NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 9 together together ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 14 “ " PUNCT `` _ 17 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 16 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 17 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 18 for for ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 17 nmod _ _ 20 to to PART TO _ 22 mark _ _ 21 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 22 cop _ _ 22 off off ADP RP _ 19 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 24 for for SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ _ 25 if if SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 master master NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nsubj _ _ 28 spare spare VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 ccomp _ _ 29 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 28 advmod _ _ 30 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 31 oxen ox NOUN NNS Number=Plur 28 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 33 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 34 nsubj _ _ 34 work work VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 31 acl:relcl _ _ 35 for for ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 37 nmod:poss _ _ 37 gain gain NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 39 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 42 advmod _ _ 40 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 41 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 42 expect expect VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 conj _ _ 43 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 spare spare VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 42 xcomp _ _ 46 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 45 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 ? ? PUNCT . _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ” " PUNCT '' _ 28 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | gerund | storm's Dogs *not said here* | this | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus | | 2 | **take** | past | storm's Dogs | counsel | | | | together *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent counsel=Theme | | 3 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | storm's Dogs *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | counsel | time | | | | for us | tree rules | | 5 | **not** **spare** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | infinitive | the master | storm's oxen | | | | | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent ox=Asset | | 6 | **work** *in a quote* | present | storm's oxen | | | | | for storm's gain | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for gain=Beneficiary | | 7 | **expect** *in a quote* | can | we | storm | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **spare** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | storm *not said here* | us | | | | | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent we=Asset | One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree. **Text:** «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Project Gutenberg book 21 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/8/27/) - next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/8/29/) - ↑ back to [Aesop’s Fables, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/8/)