---
title: The birch-tree said, "Long as I've served you, you've never tied a s… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: The birch-tree said, "Long as I've served you, you've never tied a single thread round me; but she fastened a ribbon around me." Who acts: birch tree, tree. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 11, with its dependency tree an
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 11, sentence 8

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The birch-tree said, "Long as I've served you, you've never tied a single thread round me; but she fastened a ribbon around me."

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**Who acts:** birch tree, tree · **What happens:** say, serve, not tie, fasten · **To what, where:** you, ribbon · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birch tree, tree), 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:pg22373:29:8
# text = The birch-tree said, "Long as I've served you, you've never tied a single thread round me; but she fastened a ribbon around me."
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	've	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	've	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
22	round	round	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	fastened	fasten	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	ribbon	ribbon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	around	around	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the birch tree |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **serve** *in a quote* | present · perfect | the birch tree *= tree* | you |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Attribute |
| 3 | **not** **tie** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | you |  |  |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP ADJP»: subject=Patient thread=Result |
| 4 | **fasten** *in a quote* | past | tree | a ribbon |  |  |  | around the birch tree *= tree* | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ribbon=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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