--- title: They have sought to give as nearly a literal translation as possible… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics description: They have sought to give as nearly a literal translation as possible of the Greek text; and they hope that if the reader should miss the smoothness and thoroughly English tone which characterized the previous version of these fables, he will be more than repaid by gaining a nearer approach to the sp --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/1/132/) [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/) / [Literally Translated From the Greek](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/1/) / 132 # Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Literally Translated From the Greek, sentence 132 They have sought to give as nearly a literal translation as possible of the Greek text; and they hope that if the reader should miss the smoothness and thoroughly English tone which characterized the previous version of these fables, he will be more than repaid by gaining a nearer approach to the spirit, thoughts, and (in some cases) to the epigrammatic terseness of the original. **Who acts:** Publishers, reader, English tone · **What happens:** seek, give, hope, miss, characterize, be · **To what, where:** cases, literal translation, smoothness, previous version, nearer approach This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Literally Translated From the Greek. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Publishers, reader, English tone), 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:pg21:1:132 # text = They have sought to give as nearly a literal translation as possible of the Greek text; and they hope that if the reader should miss the smoothness and thoroughly English tone which characterized the previous version of these fables, he will be more than repaid by gaining a nearer approach to the spirit, thoughts, and (in some cases) to the epigrammatic terseness of the original. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 sought seek VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 4 to to PART TO _ 5 mark _ _ 5 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 xcomp _ _ 6 as as ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 7 nearly nearly ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 literal literal ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 translation translation NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 11 as as SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _ 12 possible possible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 advcl _ _ 13 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 15 Greek Greek ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 amod _ _ 16 text text NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ; ; PUNCT : _ 20 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 19 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 hope hope VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 21 that that SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 22 if if SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 reader reader NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 25 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 miss miss VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 ccomp _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 smoothness smoothness NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 30 thoroughly thoroughly ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 31 English English PROPN NNP Number=Sing 32 compound _ _ 32 tone tone NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 conj _ _ 33 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 34 nsubj _ _ 34 characterized characterize VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 acl:relcl _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 36 previous previous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 37 version version NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 40 det _ _ 40 fables fable NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 42 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 43 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 44 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 45 cop _ _ 45 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 20 conj _ _ 46 than than SCONJ IN _ 47 mark _ _ 47 repaid repay VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 45 advcl _ _ 48 by by SCONJ IN _ 49 mark _ _ 49 gaining gain VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 47 advcl _ _ 50 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 52 det _ _ 51 nearer near ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 52 amod _ _ 52 approach approach NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obj _ _ 53 to to ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 54 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 55 spirit spirit NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 57 thoughts thought NOUN NNS Number=Plur 55 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 58 , , PUNCT , _ 63 punct _ _ 59 and and CCONJ CC _ 63 cc _ _ 60 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 63 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 61 in in ADP IN _ 63 case _ _ 62 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 63 det _ _ 63 cases case NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 64 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 63 punct _ _ 65 to to ADP IN _ 68 case _ _ 66 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 68 det _ _ 67 epigrammatic epigrammatic ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 68 amod _ _ 68 terseness terseness NOUN NN Number=Sing 63 nmod _ _ 69 of of ADP IN _ 71 case _ _ 70 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 71 det _ _ 71 original original NOUN NN Number=Sing 68 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 72 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **seek** | present · perfect | Publishers *= publisher* | | | some cases to the epigrammatic terseness of the original | | | tree rules | | 2 | **give** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Publishers *= publisher* *not said here* | a literal translation | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent translation=Theme | | 3 | **hope** | present | Publishers *= publisher* | | | | | | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 4 | **miss** *a condition, not said to happen* | should | the reader | the smoothness | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer smoothness=Stimulus | | 5 | **characterize** | past | English tone | the previous version of this fables | | | | | vn characterize-29.2-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent version=Theme | | 6 | **is** | future | reader | | | | | more *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **repay** | participle | reader *not said here* | | | | | | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **gain** | gerund | reader *not said here* | a nearer approach | | | | to the spirit and thoughts *result* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient approach=Extent to spirit=Result | 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 131](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/1/131/) - next →: [sentence 133](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/1/133/) - ↑ back to [Literally Translated From the Greek](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/1/)