---
title: Sometimes the Frost is described by the people as a mighty smith who… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: Sometimes the Frost is described by the people as a mighty smith who forges strong chains with which to bind the earth and the waters--as in the saying "The Old One has built a bridge without axe and without knife," _i.e._, the river is frozen over. Who acts: people, mighty smith, saying. A sentence
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Chapter III. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 6, sentence 47

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Sometimes the Frost is described by the people as a mighty smith who forges strong chains with which to bind the earth and the waters--as in the saying "The Old One has built a bridge without axe and without knife," \_i.e.\_, the river is frozen over.

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**Who acts:** people, mighty smith, saying · **What happens:** describe, forge, bind, build, freeze over · **To what, where:** Frost, strong chains, earth, Old One, river

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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 (people, mighty smith, saying), 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:pg22373:40:47
# text = Sometimes the Frost is described by the people as a mighty smith who forges strong chains with which to bind the earth and the waters--as in the saying "The Old One has built a bridge without axe and without knife," _i.e._, the river is frozen over.
1	Sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Frost	frost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	described	describe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
9	as	as	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	smith	smith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
14	forges	forge	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
15	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	chains	chain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	obl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	bind	bind	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	acl	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	as	as	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
31	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	Old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	One	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	bridge	bridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	without	without	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	without	without	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	53	punct	_	_
46	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	53	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	i.e.	i.e.	ADV	FW	_	53	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	47	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nsubj:pass	_	_
52	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux:pass	_	_
53	frozen	freeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl	_	_
54	over	over	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | present · passive | the people | the Frost |  |  |  | as a mighty smith; sometimes *property* | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent subject=Theme as smith=Attribute |
| 2 | **forge** | present | a mighty smith | strong chains |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chain=Product |
| 3 | **bind** | to-infinitive | a mighty smith *not said here* | the earth and the waters |  |  |  | with strong chains | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent earth=Patient with which=Co-Patient |
| 4 | **build** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive | the saying *not said here* | the Old One |  |  |  | without axe and knife | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary bridge=Product |
| 5 | **freeze over** | present · passive | the saying *not said here* | the river |  |  |  | i.e., over *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result |

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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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