---
title: While they were still in childhood they were left complete orphans,… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: While they were still in childhood they were left complete orphans, and, as they hadn't a crust to eat, they were obliged to get their living by daily labor beyond their strength. " Who acts: boy. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter III. MYTHOLOGI
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter III. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 4, sentence 119

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While they were still in childhood they were left complete orphans, and, as they hadn't a crust to eat, they were obliged to get their living by daily labor beyond their strength. "

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**Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** be, leave, have, eat, oblige, get · **To what, where:** childhood, boy, crust, living

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter III. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy), 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:pg22373:38:119
# text = While they were still in childhood they were left complete orphans, and, as they hadn't a crust to eat, they were obliged to get their living by daily labor beyond their strength. "
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	still	still	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	childhood	childhood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
10	complete	complete	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	orphans	orphan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	crust	crust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	conj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	daily	daily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	labor	labor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
34	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
38	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | boy |  |  | childhood | still |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **leave** | past · passive |  | boy |  |  |  |  | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme orphan=Attribute |
| 3 | **have** | past | boy | a crust |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crust=Patient |
| 4 | **eat** | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* | a crust *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **oblige** | past · passive |  | boy |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **get** | to-infinitive |  | boy's living |  |  |  | by daily labor; beyond boy's strength | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer living=Stimulus |
| 7 | **live** |  | boy |  |  |  |  |  | nom living «cognition intransitive»: 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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