Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 9, sentence 181
And this was the truth, for as soon as ever the man mentioned the Devil, the Evil Spirit appeared on the threshold, gathered up all the gold and silver plate, and threw skeleton bones down instead.
Who acts: this, man, Devil, threshold · What happens: be, mention, appear, gather up, throw down · To what, where: truth, threshold, gold, skeleton bones · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (this, man, Devil, threshold), 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 | And | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 truth | cc |
| 2 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 5 truth | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 truth | cop |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 truth | det |
| 5 | truth | truth | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 truth | punct |
| 7 | for | for | ADP | _ | 9 soon | case |
| 8 | as | as | ADV | _ | 9 soon | advmod |
| 9 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 5 truth | advmod |
| 10 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 14 mentioned | mark |
| 11 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 13 man | advmod |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 man | det |
| 13 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 mentioned | nsubj |
| 14 | mentioned | mention | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 soon | advcl |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 Devil | det |
| 16 | Devil | Devil | PROPN | Number=Sing | 21 appeared | nsubj |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 Spirit | punct |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 Spirit | det |
| 19 | Evil | Evil | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 Spirit | compound |
| 20 | Spirit | Spirit | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 Devil | conj |
| 21 | appeared | appear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 mentioned | ccomp |
| 22 | on | on | ADP | _ | 24 threshold | case |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 threshold | det |
| 24 | threshold | threshold | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 appeared | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 gathered | punct |
| 26 | gathered | gather | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 24 threshold | acl |
| 27 | up | up | ADP | _ | 26 gathered | compound:prt |
| 28 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 30 gold | det:predet |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 gold | det |
| 30 | gold | gold | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 gathered | obl |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 plate | cc |
| 32 | silver | silver | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 plate | compound |
| 33 | plate | plate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 gold | conj |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 threw | punct |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 threw | cc |
| 36 | threw | throw | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 appeared | parataxis |
| 37 | skeleton | skeleton | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 bones | compound |
| 38 | bones | bone | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 threw | obj |
| 39 | down | down | ADV | _ | 36 threw | advmod |
| 40 | instead | instead | ADV | _ | 36 threw | advmod |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 truth | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | this | the truth | soon property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | mention speech: other | past | the man | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | appear | past | the Devil and the Evil Spirit | the threshold | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on threshold=Location | ||||
| 4 | gather up | participle | the threshold not said here | all gold and silver plate | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | throw down | past | skeleton bones | down, instead property | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=Theme |
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/pg62509/9/181/