---
title: On his way he happened to pass through a forest, and in the forest t… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: On his way he happened to pass through a forest, and in the forest there stood an old withered Birch-tree. Who acts: Two. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 6, sentence 143

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On his way he happened to pass through a forest, and in the forest there stood an old withered Birch-tree.

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**Who acts:** Two · **What happens:** happen, pass, stand, wither · **To what, where:** way, forest, old withered Birch tree

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Two), 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:pg22373:16:143
# text = On his way he happened to pass through a forest, and in the forest there stood an old withered Birch-tree.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
16	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
17	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
18	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
19	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
20	withered	wither	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	amod	_	_
21	Birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | Two |  |  | Two's way |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive | Two *not said here* |  |  | a forest |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through forest=Location |
| 3 | **stand** | past | Two *not said here* | a old withered Birch tree |  | the forest; there |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent tree=Theme in forest=Destination |
| 4 | **wither** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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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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