---
title: When he was about to die, he gave orders that his sons' wives should… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: When he was about to die, he gave orders that his sons' wives should keep watch over him [after his death] for three nights, taking one night apiece; that his body should be placed in the outer chamber,[376] and that his sons' wives should spin wool to make him a caftan. Who acts: Moujik, wives. A s
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Magic and Witchcraft., part 8, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When he was about to die, he gave orders that his sons' wives should keep watch over him \[after his death\] for three nights, taking one night apiece; that his body should be placed in the outer chamber,\[376\] and that his sons' wives should spin wool to make him a caftan.

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**Who acts:** Moujik, wives · **What happens:** be, die, give, keep, take, place · **To what, where:** orders, body, outer chamber, wool, caftan, Moujik

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Magic and Witchcraft., part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Moujik, wives), 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:pg22373:49:8
# text = When he was about to die, he gave orders that his sons' wives should keep watch over him [after his death] for three nights, taking one night apiece; that his body should be placed in the outer chamber,[376] and that his sons' wives should spin wool to make him a caftan.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	orders	order	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	obj	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	'	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	acl:relcl	_	_
18	watch	watch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	over	over	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	_
21	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	after	after	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	24	punct	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
31	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	apiece	apiece	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	outer	outer	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	chamber	chamber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	47	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	376	376	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	44	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	47	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
50	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
51	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	'	's	PART	POS	_	52	case	_	_
54	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	nsubj	_	_
55	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
56	spin	spin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	conj	_	_
57	wool	wool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	59	mark	_	_
59	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	advcl	_	_
60	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	obj	_	_
61	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	caftan	caftan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Moujik |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **die** | to-infinitive | Moujik *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **give** | past | Moujik | orders |  |  | after Moujik's death; night |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent order=Theme |
| 4 | **keep** | should | Moujik's sons's wives | orders |  |  |  | over Moujik | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent that=Theme watch=Attribute |
| 5 | **take** | gerund | Moujik *not said here* |  |  |  | night | apiece *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **place** | should · passive |  | Moujik's body |  | the outer chamber |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in chamber=Destination |
| 7 | **spin** | should | Moujik's sons's wives | wool |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent wool=Theme |
| 8 | **make** | to-infinitive | Moujik's sons's wives *not said here* | a caftan | Moujik |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset he=Beneficiary caftan=Product |
| 9 | **die** |  | Moujik |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=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.

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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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