---
title: At shearing time, wishing to take his fleece and to avoid expense, s… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: At shearing time, wishing to take his fleece and to avoid expense, she sheared him herself, but used the shears so unskillfully that with the fleece she sheared the flesh. Who acts: shearing time, wit. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 5, with its dependency
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 5, sentence 29

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At shearing time, wishing to take his fleece and to avoid expense, she sheared him herself, but used the shears so unskillfully that with the fleece she sheared the flesh.

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**Who acts:** shearing time, wit · **What happens:** wish, take, avoid, shear, use · **To what, where:** fleece, expense, vessel, shears, flesh

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (shearing time, wit), 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:pg21:7:29
# text = At shearing time, wishing to take his fleece and to avoid expense, she sheared him herself, but used the shears so unskillfully that with the fleece she sheared the flesh.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	shearing	shearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	wishing	wish	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	fleece	fleece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
13	expense	expense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	sheared	shear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	shears	shear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	unskillfully	unskillfully	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	fleece	fleece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
30	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	sheared	shear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** | gerund | shearing time *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **take** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | shearing time *not said here* | vessel's fleece |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fleece=Theme |
| 3 | **avoid** | to-infinitive | shearing time *not said here* | expense |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent expense=Location |
| 4 | **shear** | past | wit | vessel |  |  | time | wit *obl* | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent he=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **use** | past | wit *not said here* | the shears |  |  |  | unskillfully *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shear=Patient |
| 6 | **shear** | past | wit | the flesh |  |  |  | with the fleece | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent flesh=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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