---
title: We may perhaps be allowed to designate them by the well-known name o… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: We may perhaps be allowed to designate them by the well-known name of Swan-Maidens, though they do not always assume, together with their plumage-robes, the form of swans, but sometimes appear as geese, ducks, spoonbills, or aquatic birds of some other species. Who acts: We, maidens. A sentence of «
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 8, sentence 51

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We may perhaps be allowed to designate them by the well-known name of Swan-Maidens, though they do not always assume, together with their plumage-robes, the form of swans, but sometimes appear as geese, ducks, spoonbills, or aquatic birds of some other species.

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**Who acts:** We, maidens · **What happens:** allow, designate, know, not assume, appear, name · **To what, where:** We, maidens, aquatic birds, Swan Maidens, swans

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (We, maidens), 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:pg22373:26:51
# text = We may perhaps be allowed to designate them by the well-known name of Swan-Maidens, though they do not always assume, together with their plumage-robes, the form of swans, but sometimes appear as geese, ducks, spoonbills, or aquatic birds of some other species.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	designate	designate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
11	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	amod	_	_
14	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	Swan	Swan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	Maidens	maiden	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
22	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
24	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	25	advmod	_	_
25	assume	assume	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	together	together	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
30	plumage	plumage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	robes	robe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	appos	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	swans	swan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	41	advmod	_	_
41	appear	appear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
42	as	as	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	geese	goose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
47	spoonbills	spoonbill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
50	aquatic	aquatic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
53	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	55	det	_	_
54	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	species	species	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **allow** | may · passive |  | We |  |  |  | perhaps *property* | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **designate** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | We *not said here* | maidens *= maiden* |  |  |  | by the known name of Swan Maidens | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 3 | **know** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **assume** | present · do-support | maidens *= maiden* |  |  |  |  | with maidens's plumage robes; always, together *property* | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **appear** | present |  | aquatic birds of some other species |  |  |  | as geese and ducks and spoonbills; sometimes *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **name** |  |  | Swan Maidens |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **form** |  |  | swans |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: of=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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