---
title: A VERY POOR MAN, a Carpenter by trade, had a wooden image of Mercury… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: A VERY POOR MAN, a Carpenter by trade, had a wooden image of Mercury, before which he made offerings day by day, and begged the idol to make him rich, but in spite of his entreaties he became poorer and poorer. Who acts: POOR MAN, MAN. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s F
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 8, sentence 1

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A VERY POOR MAN, a Carpenter by trade, had a wooden image of Mercury, before which he made offerings day by day, and begged the idol to make him rich, but in spite of his entreaties he became poorer and poorer.

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**Who acts:** POOR MAN, MAN · **What happens:** have, make, beg, become, image, spite · **To what, where:** wooden image, idol, MAN, spite, Mercury, entreaties

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (POOR MAN, MAN), 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:pg21:10:1
# text = A VERY POOR MAN, a Carpenter by trade, had a wooden image of Mercury, before which he made offerings day by day, and begged the idol to make him rich, but in spite of his entreaties he became poorer and poorer.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	VERY	very	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	POOR	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	MAN	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Carpenter	carpenter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
11	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	image	image	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Mercury	Mercury	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	before	before	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obl	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
22	offerings	offering	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	compound	_	_
23	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	idol	idol	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	advcl	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
36	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	entreaties	entreaty	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
44	poorer	poor	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	43	xcomp	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	poorer	poor	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	44	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | a POOR MAN | a wooden image of Mercury |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent image=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | past | MAN |  |  |  | day |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | a POOR MAN *not said here* | the idol |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent idol=Recipient |
| 4 | **make** | to-infinitive | a POOR MAN *not said here* | MAN |  |  |  | rich *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset he=Product |
| 5 | **become** | past | MAN |  |  |  |  | in spite of MAN's entreaties *result*; poor *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in spite=Result |
| 6 | **image** |  |  | Mercury |  |  |  |  | nom image «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **spite** |  |  | MAN's entreaties |  |  |  |  | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=patient |

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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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