---
title: _We say that we are wise folks, but our old people dispute the fact,… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: _We say that we are wise folks, but our old people dispute the fact, saying: "No, no, we were wiser than you are." Who acts: We, old people, you. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Magic and Witchcraft., part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Magic and Witchcraft., part 4, sentence 22

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
\_We say that we are wise folks, but our old people dispute the fact, saying: "No, no, we were wiser than you are."

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**Who acts:** We, old people, you · **What happens:** say, be, dispute · **To what, where:** wise folks, fact · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Magic and Witchcraft., 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 (We, old people, you), 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:pg22373:45:22
# text = _We say that we are wise folks, but our old people dispute the fact, saying: "No, no, we were wiser than you are."
1	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	folks	folk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	dispute	dispute	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
20	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	27	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	no	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	27	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	parataxis	_	_
28	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | We |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** | present | we | wise folks |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **dispute** | present | our old people | the fact |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | our old people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | past | we |  |  |  |  | wise *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **does** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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.

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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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