---
title: A COCK, scratching for food for himself and his hens, found a precio… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: A COCK, scratching for food for himself and his hens, found a precious stone and exclaimed: “If your owner had found thee, and not I, he would have taken thee up, and have set thee in thy first estate; but I have found thee for no purpose. Who acts: COCK, owner. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s 
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 1, sentence 43

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A COCK, scratching for food for himself and his hens, found a precious stone and exclaimed: “If your owner had found thee, and not I, he would have taken thee up, and have set thee in thy first estate; but I have found thee for no purpose.

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**Who acts:** COCK, owner · **What happens:** scratch, find, exclaim, take up, set · **To what, where:** precious stone, thee, COCK, first estate · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (COCK, owner), 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:pg21:3:43
# text = A COCK, scratching for food for himself and his hens, found a precious stone and exclaimed: “If your owner had found thee, and not I, he would have taken thee up, and have set thee in thy first estate; but I have found thee for no purpose.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	COCK	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	scratching	scratch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	hens	hen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
13	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	precious	precious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	exclaimed	exclaim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
22	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	owner	owner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	parataxis	_	_
26	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
33	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	aux	_	_
35	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	conj	_	_
36	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	35	obj	_	_
37	up	up	ADP	RP	_	35	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	conj	_	_
42	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	41	obj	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	46	nmod:poss	_	_
45	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	46	amod	_	_
46	estate	estate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
48	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
49	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
50	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
51	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
52	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	51	obj	_	_
53	for	for	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	55	det	_	_
55	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scratch** | gerund | a COCK *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for food; for Grasshopper | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for food=Theme |
| 2 | **find** | past | a COCK | a precious stone |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stone=Topic |
| 3 | **exclaim** *speech: express* | past | a COCK *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **find** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past · perfect | your owner | thee |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Topic |
| 5 | **take up** *in a quote* | would · perfect · passive |  | a COCK *= cock* |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme thou=Destination |
| 6 | **set** *in a quote* | present · perfect |  | thee |  | thy first estate |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent thou=Theme in estate=Destination |
| 7 | **find** *in a quote* | present · perfect | a COCK *= cock* | thee |  |  |  | for no purpose | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent thou=Theme for purpose=Beneficiary |

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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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