---
title: His brothers talked away, describing where they had been, what they… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: His brothers talked away, describing where they had been, what they had seen, and he listened to them as of old. Who acts: brothers, skazkas, man. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Magic and Witchcraft., part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Magic and Witchcraft., part 4, sentence 74

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His brothers talked away, describing where they had been, what they had seen, and he listened to them as of old.

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**Who acts:** brothers, skazkas, man · **What happens:** talk away, describe, see, listen · **To what, where:** skazkas

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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 (brothers, skazkas, man), 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:pg22373:45:74
# text = His brothers talked away, describing where they had been, what they had seen, and he listened to them as of old.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	describing	describe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
7	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	15	advmod	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	obj	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	listened	listen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	_
22	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	24	case	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	fixed	_	_
24	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk away** | past | man's brothers |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **describe** | gerund | man's brothers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | past · perfect | skazkas *= skazka* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 4 | **listen** | past | man |  | skazkas *= skazka* |  |  | as old | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to they=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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