---
title: At first he wouldn't believe her, but at last he determined to go to… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: At first he wouldn't believe her, but at last he determined to go to the river and see for himself what sort of barrel it was that was floating there. Who acts: straightway, sort. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 4, with i
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 4, sentence 20

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At first he wouldn't believe her, but at last he determined to go to the river and see for himself what sort of barrel it was that was floating there.

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**Who acts:** straightway, sort · **What happens:** not believe, determine, go, see, float, sort · **To what, where:** maid, last, river, barrel · **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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (straightway, sort), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg22373:14:20
# text = At first he wouldn't believe her, but at last he determined to go to the river and see for himself what sort of barrel it was that was floating there.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	determined	determine	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	20	obl	_	_
23	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	24	det	_	_
24	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	barrel	barrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	31	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	floating	float	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	ccomp	_	_
32	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **believe** | would | straightway | maid |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |
| 2 | **determine** | past | straightway |  |  | last |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **go** | to-infinitive | straightway *not said here* |  |  | the river |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to river=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **see** | infinitive | straightway *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for straightway | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **float** | past · progressive | what sort of barrel |  |  | there |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **sort** |  |  | barrel |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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