---
title: “Alas!” said the Horse, “if you really wish me to be in good conditi… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: “Alas!” said the Horse, “if you really wish me to be in good condition, you should groom me less, and feed me more.” Who acts: Horse, you. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/17/)

<!-- 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/) / [Three hundred Aesop’s fables](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/) / [Aesop’s Fables, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/) / 17

# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 3, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Alas!” said the Horse, “if you really wish me to be in good condition, you should groom me less, and feed me more.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Horse, you · **What happens:** say, wish, be, groom, feed · **To what, where:** Horse, good condition, more · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Horse, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg21:5:17
# text = “Alas!” said the Horse, “if you really wish me to be in good condition, you should groom me less, and feed me more.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Alas	alas	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	really	really	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	wish	wish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	cop	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
21	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	groom	groom	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
24	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	feed	feed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
29	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Horse |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **wish** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | you |  | the Horse *= horse* |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot i=Theme |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  | good condition |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **groom** *in a quote* | should | you | the Horse *= horse* |  |  |  | less *property* | vn groom-41.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |
| 5 | **feed** *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* | more | the Horse *= horse* |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient more=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/16/)
- next →: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/18/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop’s Fables, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/)