---
title: The fence around it was made of dead men's bones; on the top of the… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: The fence around it was made of dead men's bones; on the top of the fence were stuck human skulls with eyes in them; instead of uprights at the gates were men's legs; instead of bolts were arms; instead of a lock was a mouth with sharp teeth. Who acts: top, uprights. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tal
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 12, sentence 74

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The fence around it was made of dead men's bones; on the top of the fence were stuck human skulls with eyes in them; instead of uprights at the gates were men's legs; instead of bolts were arms; instead of a lock was a mouth with sharp teeth.

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**Who acts:** top, uprights · **What happens:** make, be · **To what, where:** fence, stuck human skulls, arms, mouth

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (top, uprights), 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:pg22373:30:74
# text = The fence around it was made of dead men's bones; on the top of the fence were stuck human skulls with eyes in them; instead of uprights at the gates were men's legs; instead of bolts were arms; instead of a lock was a mouth with sharp teeth.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fence	fence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	around	around	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nmod	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	fence	fence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	stuck	stuck	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
21	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	skulls	skull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	parataxis	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	30	case	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	fixed	_	_
30	uprights	upright	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nsubj	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	_
34	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
35	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	's	's	PART	POS	_	35	case	_	_
37	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	43	punct	_	_
39	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	41	case	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	fixed	_	_
41	bolts	bolt	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	_
42	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	cop	_	_
43	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	51	punct	_	_
45	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	48	case	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	fixed	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	lock	lock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
52	with	with	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past · passive |  | the fence around harm |  |  |  | of dead men's bones | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the top of the fence | stuck human skulls |  |  |  | with eyes in eyes; men's legs *nmod* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | uprights at the gates |  |  |  |  | 's men | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | arms |  |  |  | instead bolts | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** | past |  | a mouth |  |  |  | instead a lock; with sharp teeth | tree rules |

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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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