---
title: This sounds to the English ear like an ungracious reply, but it is t… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: This sounds to the English ear like an ungracious reply, but it is the phrase ordinarily used by a superior when an inferior asks his pardon. Who acts: This, reply, inferior. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 15, with its 
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 15, sentence 160

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This sounds to the English ear like an ungracious reply, but it is the phrase ordinarily used by a superior when an inferior asks his pardon.

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**Who acts:** This, reply, inferior · **What happens:** sound, be, use, ask, pardon · **To what, where:** phrase, pardon

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, reply, inferior), 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:pg22373:33:160
# text = This sounds to the English ear like an ungracious reply, but it is the phrase ordinarily used by a superior when an inferior asks his pardon.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sounds	sound	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	like	like	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	ungracious	ungracious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	reply	reply	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	phrase	phrase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
17	ordinarily	ordinarily	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	superior	superior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	obl	_	_
22	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
23	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	inferior	inferior	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	pardon	pardon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sound** | present | This |  |  |  |  | to the English ear; like a ungracious reply | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to ear=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | present | reply | the phrase |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **use** | participle |  | the phrase *not said here* |  |  |  | by a superior; ordinarily *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | a inferior | inferior's pardon |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent pardon=Recipient |
| 5 | **pardon** |  | inferior |  |  |  |  |  | nom pardon «act transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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