---
title: The rhetoricians and philosophers were accustomed to give the Fables… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: The rhetoricians and philosophers were accustomed to give the Fables of Æsop as an exercise to their scholars, not only inviting them to discuss the moral of the tale, but also to practice and to perfect themselves thereby in style and rules of grammar, by making for themselves new and various versi
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Literally Translated From the Greek, sentence 54

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The rhetoricians and philosophers were accustomed to give the Fables of Æsop as an exercise to their scholars, not only inviting them to discuss the moral of the tale, but also to practice and to perfect themselves thereby in style and rules of grammar, by making for themselves new and various versions of the fables.

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**Who acts:** grammar · **What happens:** accustom, give, not invite, discuss, practice, make · **To what, where:** rhetoricians, Fables, scholars, moral, style, new versions

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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 (grammar), 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:pg21:1:54
# text = The rhetoricians and philosophers were accustomed to give the Fables of Æsop as an exercise to their scholars, not only inviting them to discuss the moral of the tale, but also to practice and to perfect themselves thereby in style and rules of grammar, by making for themselves new and various versions of the fables.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rhetoricians	rhetorician	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	philosophers	philosopher	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	accustomed	accustom	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Fables	fable	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Æsop	Æsop	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	exercise	exercise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	scholars	scholar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
21	only	only	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	inviting	invite	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
23	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	discuss	discuss	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	moral	moral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	also	also	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	practice	practice	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	perfect	perfect	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	conj	_	_
39	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	38	obl	_	_
40	thereby	thereby	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	style	style	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	conj	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	grammar	grammar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
49	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	advcl	_	_
50	for	for	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	49	obl	_	_
52	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
54	various	various	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	conj	_	_
55	versions	version	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obj	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	fables	fable	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accustom** | past · passive |  | the rhetoricians and philosophers |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | to-infinitive |  | the Fables of Æsop | Antioch's scholars |  |  | as a exercise | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent fable=Theme to scholar=Recipient |
| 3 | **not** **invite** | gerund |  | scholars *= scholar* |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 4 | **discuss** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  | the moral of the tale |  |  |  |  | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent moral=Topic |
| 5 | **practice** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | style and rules of grammar |  | thereby *property* | vn rehearse-26.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **make** | gerund |  | new versions of the fables |  |  |  | for rules *= rule* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: agent=Agent version=Product for themselves=Asset |
| 7 | **rule** |  | grammar |  |  |  |  |  | nom rule «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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