---
title: And at night we see the homely dwellings of the villagers assume a p… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: And at night we see the homely dwellings of the villagers assume a picturesque aspect to which they are strangers by the tell-tale light of day, their rough lines softened by the mellow splendor of a summer moon, or their unshapely forms looming forth mysteriously against the starlit snow of winter.
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 1, sentence 48

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And at night we see the homely dwellings of the villagers assume a picturesque aspect to which they are strangers by the tell-tale light of day, their rough lines softened by the mellow splendor of a summer moon, or their unshapely forms looming forth mysteriously against the starlit snow of winter.

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**Who acts:** we, homely dwellings, picturesque aspect, unshapely forms, villagers, winter · **What happens:** see, assume, be, soften, loom, light · **To what, where:** picturesque aspect, strangers, rough lines, starlit snow, day · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, homely dwellings, picturesque aspect, unshapely forms), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg22373:11:48
# text = And at night we see the homely dwellings of the villagers assume a picturesque aspect to which they are strangers by the tell-tale light of day, their rough lines softened by the mellow splendor of a summer moon, or their unshapely forms looming forth mysteriously against the starlit snow of winter.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	homely	homely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	dwellings	dwelling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	villagers	villager	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
12	assume	assume	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	picturesque	picturesque	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	aspect	aspect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	strangers	stranger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	acl:relcl	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
23	tell	tell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	lines	line	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	conj	_	_
33	softened	soften	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	acl	_	_
34	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	mellow	mellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	splendor	splendor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	summer	summer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	_
41	moon	moon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
44	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
45	unshapely	unshapely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	forms	form	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	conj	_	_
47	looming	loom	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	46	acl	_	_
48	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
49	mysteriously	mysteriously	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
50	against	against	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	starlit	starlit	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | present | we |  |  |  | night |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **assume** | present | the homely dwellings of the villagers | a picturesque aspect |  |  |  |  | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent aspect=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | present | a picturesque aspect | strangers |  |  |  | by the tale light of day and villagers's rough lines or villagers's unshapely forms | tree rules |
| 4 | **soften** | participle |  | villagers's rough lines *not said here* |  |  |  | by the mellow splendor of a summer moon | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **loom** | gerund | villagers's unshapely forms *not said here* |  |  | the starlit snow of winter |  | forth, mysteriously *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme against snow=Location |
| 6 | **light** |  |  | day |  |  |  |  | nom light «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **form** |  | villagers *= villager* |  |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **snow** |  | winter |  |  |  |  |  | nom snow «phenomenon 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:** «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Project Gutenberg book 22373 (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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