---
title: "An old man has sent me here, and told me to ask you which of the tw… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: "An old man has sent me here, and told me to ask you which of the two I shall wish for--riches or a good wife?" Who acts: I. 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 51

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"An old man has sent me here, and told me to ask you which of the two I shall wish for--riches or a good wife?"

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** send, tell, ask, wish · **To what, where:** old man, me, you · **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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I), 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:pg22373:16:51
# text = "An old man has sent me here, and told me to ask you which of the two I shall wish for--riches or a good wife?"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
12	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	iobj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	iobj	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	obl	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	wish	wish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	riches	rich	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | a old man |  | here |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Destination i=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past |  |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  | you |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **wish** *in a quote* | shall | I |  |  |  |  | of the two; for riches or a good wife | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot which=Theme |

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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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