Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 32, sentence 58
He was sending for the midwife of the town, but the elder sisters asked him why he should; they would act as midwives.
Who acts: King, elder sisters, sisters · What happens: send, ask, act · To what, where: King
This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, elder sisters, sisters), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 sending | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 sending | aux |
| 3 | sending | send | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 midwife | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 midwife | det |
| 6 | midwife | midwife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 sending | obl |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 town | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 town | det |
| 9 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 midwife | nmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 asked | punct |
| 11 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 15 asked | cc |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 sisters | det |
| 13 | elder | elder | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 sisters | amod |
| 14 | sisters | sister | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 asked | nsubj |
| 15 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 sending | conj |
| 16 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 asked | iobj |
| 17 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 19 should | advmod |
| 18 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 should | nsubj |
| 19 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 15 asked | ccomp |
| 20 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 23 act | punct |
| 21 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 act | nsubj |
| 22 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 23 act | aux |
| 23 | act | act | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 sending | advcl |
| 24 | as | as | ADP | _ | 25 midwives | case |
| 25 | midwives | midwife | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 act | obl |
| 26 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 sending | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | send | past · progressive | King | for the midwife of the town | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | ask speech: ask | past | the elder sisters | King | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | ||||
| 3 | act | would | sisters = sister | as midwives | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as midwife=Attribute |
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/pg62509/32/58/