---
title: In one of its Russian forms, it is told of the old parents of a boy… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: In one of its Russian forms, it is told of the old parents of a boy named Lutonya, who weep over the hypothetical death of an imaginary grandchild, thinking how sad it would have been if a log which the old woman has dropped had killed that as yet merely potential infant. Who acts: Lutonya, old woma
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 7, sentence 21

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In one of its Russian forms, it is told of the old parents of a boy named Lutonya, who weep over the hypothetical death of an imaginary grandchild, thinking how sad it would have been if a log which the old woman has dropped had killed that as yet merely potential infant.

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**Who acts:** Lutonya, old woman, idea, imaginary grandchild · **What happens:** tell, name, weep, think, drop, kill · **To what, where:** idea, boy, hypothetical death, log · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lutonya, old woman, idea, imaginary grandchild), 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:pg22373:17:21
# text = In one of its Russian forms, it is told of the old parents of a boy named Lutonya, who weep over the hypothetical death of an imaginary grandchild, thinking how sad it would have been if a log which the old woman has dropped had killed that as yet merely potential infant.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	obl	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	Russian	Russian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	forms	form	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
19	Lutonya	Lutonya	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
22	weep	weep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
23	over	over	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	hypothetical	hypothetical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	imaginary	imaginary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	grandchild	grandchild	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	49	csubj:pass	_	_
33	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	34	advmod	_	_
34	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	ccomp	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
36	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
37	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	aux	_	_
38	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	49	aux:pass	_	_
39	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	log	log	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	47	obj	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
46	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	dropped	drop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	41	acl:relcl	_	_
48	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	ccomp	_	_
50	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
51	as	as	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
53	merely	merely	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
54	potential	potential	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	infant	infant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | idea |  |  |  | in one; of idea's Russian forms; of the old parents of a boy | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **name** | participle |  | a boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **weep** | present | Lutonya |  |  | the hypothetical death of a imaginary grandchild |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **drop** | present · perfect | the old woman | a log |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme |
| 6 | **kill** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive · perfect · passive |  | a log |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 7 | **form** |  | idea |  |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **die** |  | a imaginary grandchild |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event 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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