---
title: “Forbear,” said the Miller to him, “harping on what was of yore, for… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: “Forbear,” said the Miller to him, “harping on what was of yore, for it is the common lot of mortals to sustain the ups and downs of fortune.” Who acts: Forbear. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 4, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Forbear,” said the Miller to him, “harping on what was of yore, for it is the common lot of mortals to sustain the ups and downs of fortune.”

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**Who acts:** Forbear · **What happens:** say, harp, be, sustain · **To what, where:** Miller, yore, ups · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Forbear), 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:pg21:6:27
# text = “Forbear,” said the Miller to him, “harping on what was of yore, for it is the common lot of mortals to sustain the ups and downs of fortune.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Forbear	forbear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Miller	Miller	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	harping	harp	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	yore	yore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	mortals	mortal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	sustain	sustain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	ups	up	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	downs	down	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	conj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	fortune	fortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Forbear |  | Miller |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |
| 2 | **harp** *in a quote* | gerund | Forbear *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  | yore |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Forbear |  |  |  |  | for the common lot; of mortals | tree rules |
| 5 | **sustain** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Forbear *not said here* | the ups and downs of fortune |  |  |  |  | vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent up=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.

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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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