---
title: The prince's elder brothers almost always attempt to kill him, when… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: The prince's elder brothers almost always attempt to kill him, when he is about to ascend from the gulf or descend from the steeps which separate him from them. Who acts: elder brothers, Prince, steeps. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter II. MYTH
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 3, sentence 72

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The prince's elder brothers almost always attempt to kill him, when he is about to ascend from the gulf or descend from the steeps which separate him from them.

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**Who acts:** elder brothers, Prince, steeps · **What happens:** attempt, kill, be, ascend, descend, separate · **To what, where:** Prince, gulf, steeps

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elder brothers, Prince, steeps), 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:pg22373:21:72
# text = The prince's elder brothers almost always attempt to kill him, when he is about to ascend from the gulf or descend from the steeps which separate him from them.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	elder	elder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
6	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
8	attempt	attempt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	ascend	ascend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	from	from	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	gulf	gulf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	descend	descend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	steeps	steep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
27	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
28	separate	separate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	from	from	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attempt** | present | the prince's elder brothers |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **kill** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the prince's elder brothers *not said here* | Prince |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | Prince |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **ascend** | to-infinitive | Prince *not said here* |  |  | the gulf |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from gulf=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **descend** | infinitive | Prince *not said here* |  |  | the steeps |  |  | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from steep=Location |
| 6 | **separate** | present | the steeps | Prince |  |  |  | from brothers *= brother* | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient from they=Co-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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