--- title: There is the good old story, for instance, of the dispute between a… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics description: There is the good old story, for instance, of the dispute between a husband and wife as to whether a certain rope has been cut with a knife or with scissors, resulting in the murder of the scissors-upholding wife, who is pitched into the river by her knife-advocating husband; but not before she has, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/15/14/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collecti…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/) / [Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/15/) / 14 # Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 5, sentence 14 There is the good old story, for instance, of the dispute between a husband and wife as to whether a certain rope has been cut with a knife or with scissors, resulting in the murder of the scissors-upholding wife, who is pitched into the river by her knife-advocating husband; but not before she has, in her very death agony, testified to her belief in the scissors hypothesis by a movement of her fingers above the surface of the stream. **Who acts:** good old story, dispute, advocating husband, wife · **What happens:** be, cut, result, pitch, advocate, not have · **To what, where:** certain rope, murder, upholding wife, river, death agony, belief This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (good old story, dispute, advocating husband, wife), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg22373:15:14 # text = There is the good old story, for instance, of the dispute between a husband and wife as to whether a certain rope has been cut with a knife or with scissors, resulting in the murder of the scissors-upholding wife, who is pitched into the river by her knife-advocating husband; but not before she has, in her very death agony, testified to her belief in the scissors hypothesis by a movement of her fingers above the surface of the stream. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 2 expl _ _ 2 is be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 4 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 5 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 for for ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 instance instance NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 dispute dispute NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 parataxis _ _ 14 between between ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 husband husband NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 18 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 conj _ _ 19 as as SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 20 to to ADP IN _ 19 fixed _ _ 21 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 22 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 certain certain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 24 rope rope NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj:pass _ _ 25 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 26 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 27 aux:pass _ _ 27 cut cut VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 13 acl _ _ 28 with with ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 knife knife NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 31 or or CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 32 with with ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 scissors scissors NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 35 resulting result VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 27 advcl _ _ 36 in in ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 murder murder NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 scissors scissors NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 41 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 43 upholding upholding NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 compound _ _ 44 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 46 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 48 nsubj _ _ 47 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 48 aux:pass _ _ 48 pitched pitch VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 44 acl:relcl _ _ 49 into into ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl _ _ 52 by by ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 53 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 57 nmod:poss _ _ 54 knife knife NOUN NN Number=Sing 56 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 55 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 54 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 56 advocating advocate VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 57 amod _ _ 57 husband husband NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 58 ; ; PUNCT : _ 63 punct _ _ 59 but but CCONJ CC _ 63 cc _ _ 60 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 63 advmod _ _ 61 before before SCONJ IN _ 63 mark _ _ 62 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 63 nsubj _ _ 63 has have VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 64 , , PUNCT , _ 69 punct _ _ 65 in in ADP IN _ 69 case _ _ 66 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 69 nmod:poss _ _ 67 very very ADV RB _ 69 advmod _ _ 68 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 69 compound _ _ 69 agony agony NOUN NN Number=Sing 63 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 70 , , PUNCT , _ 71 punct _ _ 71 testified testify VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 69 acl _ _ 72 to to ADP IN _ 74 case _ _ 73 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 74 nmod:poss _ _ 74 belief belief NOUN NN Number=Sing 71 obl _ _ 75 in in ADP IN _ 78 case _ _ 76 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 78 det _ _ 77 scissors scissors NOUN NNS Number=Plur 78 compound _ _ 78 hypothesis hypothesis NOUN NN Number=Sing 74 nmod _ _ 79 by by ADP IN _ 81 case _ _ 80 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 81 det _ _ 81 movement movement NOUN NN Number=Sing 71 obl _ _ 82 of of ADP IN _ 84 case _ _ 83 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 84 nmod:poss _ _ 84 fingers finger NOUN NNS Number=Plur 81 nmod _ _ 85 above above ADP IN _ 87 case _ _ 86 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 87 det _ _ 87 surface surface NOUN NN Number=Sing 84 nmod _ _ 88 of of ADP IN _ 90 case _ _ 89 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 90 det _ _ 90 stream stream NOUN NN Number=Sing 87 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 91 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** | present | the good old story | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **cut** | present · perfect · passive | the dispute between a husband and wife *not said here* | a certain rope | | | | with a knife or scissors | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient with knife=Instrument | | 3 | **result** | gerund | the dispute between a husband and wife *not said here* | | | the murder upholding wife | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in murder=Location | | 4 | **pitch** | present · passive | wife's advocating husband | upholding wife | | the river | | | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent subject=Theme into river=Destination | | 5 | **advocate** | gerund | | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **not** **have** | present | wife | | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **testify** *speech: other* | participle | | wife's death agony *not said here* | wife's belief in the scissors hypothesis | | | by a movement of wife's fingers above the surface of the stream | vn lecture-37.11-1 «NP V PP.recipient PP.topic»: agent=Agent to belief=Recipient | | 8 | **believe** | | wife | | | the scissors hypothesis | | | nom belief «cognition transitive»: poss=agent in=place | | 9 | **move** | | | wife's fingers above the surface of the stream | | | | | nom movement «act transitive»: of=patient | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/15/13/) - next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/15/15/) - ↑ back to [Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/15/)