Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 33, sentence 124
Once upon a time there was a merchant who had three daughters: it so happened he had one day to go to strange countries to buy wares, and so he asked his daughters, “What shall I bring you from beyond the seas?”
Who acts: merchant, it · What happens: be, have, happen, go, buy, ask · To what, where: three daughters, strange countries, wares, daughters, seas · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (merchant, it), 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 | Once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 6 was | advmod |
| 2 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 4 time | case |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 time | det |
| 4 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Once | obl |
| 5 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 6 was | expl |
| 6 | was | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 merchant | det |
| 8 | merchant | merchant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 was | nsubj |
| 9 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 10 had | nsubj |
| 10 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 merchant | acl:relcl |
| 11 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 12 daughters | nummod |
| 12 | daughters | daughter | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 had | obj |
| 13 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 16 happened | punct |
| 14 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 happened | nsubj |
| 15 | so | so | ADV | _ | 16 happened | advmod |
| 16 | happened | happen | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 was | parataxis |
| 17 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 had | nsubj |
| 18 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 happened | parataxis |
| 19 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 20 day | nummod |
| 20 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 had | obj |
| 21 | to | to | PART | _ | 22 go | mark |
| 22 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 day | acl |
| 23 | to | to | ADP | _ | 25 countries | case |
| 24 | strange | strange | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 countries | amod |
| 25 | countries | country | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 go | obl |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 buy | mark |
| 27 | buy | buy | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 go | advcl |
| 28 | wares | ware | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 buy | obj |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 asked | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 asked | cc |
| 31 | so | so | ADV | _ | 33 asked | advmod |
| 32 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 asked | nsubj |
| 33 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 happened | conj |
| 34 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 35 daughters | nmod:poss |
| 35 | daughters | daughter | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 asked | obj |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 bring | punct |
| 37 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 41 bring | punct |
| 38 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 41 bring | obj |
| 39 | shall | shall | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 41 bring | aux |
| 40 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 41 bring | nsubj |
| 41 | bring | bring | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 33 asked | ccomp |
| 42 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 41 bring | obj |
| 43 | from | from | ADP | _ | 46 seas | case |
| 44 | beyond | beyond | ADP | _ | 46 seas | case |
| 45 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 seas | det |
| 46 | seas | sea | NOUN | Number=Plur | 41 bring | obl |
| 47 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 41 bring | punct |
| 48 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 41 bring | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | be | past | a merchant | there | once property | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 2 | have | past | a merchant | three daughters | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Patient | ||||
| 3 | happen | past | it | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | have | past | merchant | day | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | go | to-infinitive | merchant not said here | strange countries | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to country=Initial_Location | ||||
| 6 | buy | to-infinitive | merchant not said here | wares | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ware=Theme | ||||
| 7 | ask speech: ask | past | merchant | merchant's daughters | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent daughter=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 8 | bring in a quote | shall | merchant | merchant's daughters = daughter | the seas | What obj | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument what=Theme you=Destination |
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/pg62509/33/124/