---
title: Why could I not have been contented to labor with my companions, and… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: Why could I not have been contented to labor with my companions, and not wish to be idle all the day like that useless little Lapdog!” Who acts: 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/pg21/5/36/)

<!-- 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/) / 36

# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 3, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why could I not have been contented to labor with my companions, and not wish to be idle all the day like that useless little Lapdog!”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you · **What happens:** not content, labor, not wish, be · **To what, where:** I

<!-- .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 (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:pg21:5:36
# text = Why could I not have been contented to labor with my companions, and not wish to be idle all the day like that useless little Lapdog!”
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	contented	content	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	advcl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	labor	labor	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	companions	companion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	wish	wish	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	cop	_	_
19	idle	idle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	xcomp	_	_
20	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	22	det:predet	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl:unmarked	_	_
23	like	like	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	nsubj	_	_
25	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
26	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	Lapdog	lapdog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **content** | could · perfect · passive |  | I |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **labor** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with my companions | vn work-73.2 «NP V PP.co-agent PP.theme»: agent=Agent with companion=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **not** **wish** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  | day | like useless little Lapdog | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 4 | **is** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | idle *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/35/)
- next →: [sentence 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/37/)
- ↑ back to [Aesop’s Fables, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/5/)