Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 13, sentence 69
“O Death,” he said, “give the Tsar my life and take me instead, for it doesn’t matter to me whether I live or die; for it is better to die by my own death than to suffer such a cruel punishment.”
Who acts: Death, it, my · What happens: say, give, take, not matter, live, die · To what, where: life, Tsar, Death, cruel punishment · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Death, it, my), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 said | punct |
| 2 | O | of | ADP | Abbr=Yes | 3 Death | case |
| 3 | Death | Death | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 said | obl |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 Death | punct |
| 5 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 Death | punct |
| 6 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 said | nsubj |
| 7 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 give | punct |
| 9 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 10 give | punct |
| 10 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 said | ccomp |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 Tsar | det |
| 12 | Tsar | Tsar | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 give | iobj |
| 13 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 14 life | nmod:poss |
| 14 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 give | obj |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 take | cc |
| 16 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 give | conj |
| 17 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 16 take | obj |
| 18 | instead | instead | ADV | _ | 16 take | advmod |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 matter | punct |
| 20 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 24 matter | mark |
| 21 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 matter | nsubj |
| 22 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 24 matter | aux |
| 23 | n’t | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 24 matter | advmod |
| 24 | matter | matter | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 give | parataxis |
| 25 | to | to | ADP | _ | 26 me | case |
| 26 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 24 matter | obl |
| 27 | whether | whether | SCONJ | _ | 29 live | mark |
| 28 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 29 live | nsubj |
| 29 | live | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 24 matter | advcl |
| 30 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 31 die | cc |
| 31 | die | die | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 29 live | conj |
| 32 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 36 better | punct |
| 33 | for | for | ADP | _ | 36 better | case |
| 34 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 better | expl |
| 35 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 36 better | cop |
| 36 | better | good | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 7 said | parataxis |
| 37 | to | to | PART | _ | 38 die | mark |
| 38 | die | die | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 better | csubj |
| 39 | by | by | ADP | _ | 42 death | case |
| 40 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 42 death | nmod:poss |
| 41 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 death | amod |
| 42 | death | death | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 die | obl |
| 43 | than | than | SCONJ | _ | 45 suffer | mark |
| 44 | to | to | PART | _ | 45 suffer | mark |
| 45 | suffer | suffer | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 38 die | advcl |
| 46 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 49 punishment | det:predet |
| 47 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 49 punishment | det |
| 48 | cruel | cruel | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 punishment | amod |
| 49 | punishment | punishment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 suffer | obj |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 said | punct |
| 51 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | Death | of Death | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | give in a quote | infinitive | my life | the Tsar | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent tsar=Recipient life=Theme | ||||
| 3 | take in a quote | infinitive | Death | instead property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument i=Destination | ||||
| 4 | not matter in a quote | present · do-support | it | Death | vn matter-91 «NP V PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to i=Experiencer | ||||
| 5 | live in a quote | present | Death | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 6 | die in a quote | present | Death not said here | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||||
| 7 | is in a quote | present | good property | tree rules | |||||
| 8 | die in a quote | to-infinitive | by my own death | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||||
| 9 | suffer in a quote | to-infinitive | such cruel punishment | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer punishment=Stimulus | |||||
| 10 | die in a quote | my | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=agent |
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.
Text: «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Project Gutenberg book 62509 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/13/69/