---
title: They replied, “You fight and contend with the wind, and consequently… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: They replied, “You fight and contend with the wind, and consequently you are destroyed; while we on the contrary bend before the least breath of air, and therefore remain unbroken, and escape.” Who acts: Reeds, You, we. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 6, w
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 6, sentence 88

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They replied, “You fight and contend with the wind, and consequently you are destroyed; while we on the contrary bend before the least breath of air, and therefore remain unbroken, and escape.”

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**Who acts:** Reeds, You, we · **What happens:** reply, fight, contend, destroy, remain, escape · **To what, where:** you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Reeds, You, we), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg21:8:88
# text = They replied, “You fight and contend with the wind, and consequently you are destroyed; while we on the contrary bend before the least breath of air, and therefore remain unbroken, and escape.”
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	fight	fight	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	contend	contend	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	consequently	consequently	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	destroyed	destroy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
19	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
20	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	contrary	contrary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	bend	bend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
25	before	before	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	28	amod	_	_
28	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	remain	remain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
35	unbroken	unbroken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	escape	escape	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	38	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Reeds *= reed* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **fight** *in a quote* | present | You |  |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **contend** *in a quote* | present | You *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the wind | vn battle-36.4 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with wind=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **destroy** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | you |  |  |  | consequently *property* | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 5 | **remain** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  |  |  | therefore, unbroken *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **escape** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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.

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**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.

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