---
title: It is often very difficult, however, to distinguish magicians from f… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: It is often very difficult, however, to distinguish magicians from fiends in storyland, the same powers being generally wielded, and that for the same purposes, by the one set of beings as by the other. Who acts: storyland, one set. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovit
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/40/158/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collecti…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/) / [Chapter III. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/40/) / 158

# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter III. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 6, sentence 158

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is often very difficult, however, to distinguish magicians from fiends in storyland, the same powers being generally wielded, and that for the same purposes, by the one set of beings as by the other.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** storyland, one set · **What happens:** be, distinguish, wield, purpose · **To what, where:** magicians, same powers

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Chapter III. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (storyland, one set), 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:pg22373:40:158
# text = It is often very difficult, however, to distinguish magicians from fiends in storyland, the same powers being generally wielded, and that for the same purposes, by the one set of beings as by the other.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	expl	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	often	often	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	however	however	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	distinguish	distinguish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
11	magicians	magician	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	fiends	fiend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	storyland	storyland	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	powers	power	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	aux:pass	_	_
21	generally	generally	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	wielded	wield	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obl	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	purposes	purpose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	34	nummod	_	_
34	set	set	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	beings	being	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	_
37	as	as	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
38	by	by	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | that *obl*; difficult, often *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **distinguish** | to-infinitive |  | magicians |  |  |  | in storyland; from fiends; however *property* | vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent magician=Theme from fiend=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **wield** | gerund · passive | storyland *not said here* | the same powers |  |  |  | generally *property* | vn hold-15.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **purpose** |  | the one set of beings |  |  |  |  |  | nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: by=agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 157](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/40/157/)
- next →: [sentence 159](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/40/159/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter III. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/40/)