---
title: The Fisherman replied, “I should indeed be a very simple fellow if,… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: The Fisherman replied, “I should indeed be a very simple fellow if, for the chance of a greater uncertain profit, I were to forego my present certain gain.” Who acts: Fisherman, chance, greater uncertain profit. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 7, with its 
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 7, sentence 12

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The Fisherman replied, “I should indeed be a very simple fellow if, for the chance of a greater uncertain profit, I were to forego my present certain gain.”

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**Who acts:** Fisherman, chance, greater uncertain profit · **What happens:** reply, be, forego, chance · **To what, where:** simple fellow, present certain gain · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fisherman, chance, greater uncertain profit), 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:pg21:9:12
# text = The Fisherman replied, “I should indeed be a very simple fellow if, for the chance of a greater uncertain profit, I were to forego my present certain gain.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Fisherman	Fisherman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
7	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
8	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	cop	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	very	very	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	simple	simple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	fellow	fellow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	greater	great	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	23	amod	_	_
22	uncertain	uncertain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	profit	profit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	conj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	forego	forego	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	acl	_	_
29	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
30	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
31	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	gain	gain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	28	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the Fisherman |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | should | the Fisherman *= fisherman* | a simple fellow |  |  |  | indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **forego** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | the chance of a greater uncertain profit | my present certain gain |  |  |  |  | vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gain=Theme |
| 4 | **chance** *in a quote* |  | a greater uncertain profit |  |  |  |  |  | nom chance «state intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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