---
title: The Fox laughed at him, saying that he was foolish to think that he… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: The Fox laughed at him, saying that he was foolish to think that he could win a race between them under any conditions; but as the Crab repeated the offer, the Fox at last consented. Who acts: Fox. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, p
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/6/7/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [The Jade Story Book; Stories from the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/) / [Opening, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/6/) / 7

# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 6, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Fox laughed at him, saying that he was foolish to think that he could win a race between them under any conditions; but as the Crab repeated the offer, the Fox at last consented.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Fox · **What happens:** laugh, say, be, think, win, repeat · **To what, where:** race, conditions, offer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, 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 (Fox), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg65965:6:7
# text = The Fox laughed at him, saying that he was foolish to think that he could win a race between them under any conditions; but as the Crab repeated the offer, the Fox at last consented.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	csubj	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	win	win	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	between	between	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nmod	_	_
22	under	under	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	det	_	_
24	conditions	condition	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	as	as	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	Crab	Crab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
30	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	offer	offer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
36	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	consented	consent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **laugh** | past | the Fox |  |  |  |  | at Crab | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the Fox *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | Fox |  |  |  |  | foolish *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **win** | could | Fox | a race |  | any conditions |  | between beings *= being* | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent race=Eventuality |
| 6 | **repeat** | past | the Fox *not said here* | the offer |  |  |  | as the Crab; the Fox *obl* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent offer=Eventuality |
| 7 | **consent** | participle | the Fox *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn acquiesce-95.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Project Gutenberg book 65965 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/6/6/)
- next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/6/8/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/6/)