---
title: The old man was just beginning to say: "Not much farther--" when the… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: The old man was just beginning to say: "Not much farther--" when the sack slipped from between his teeth, and the old woman fell to the ground and was smashed all to pieces. Who acts: old man, sack, old woman. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Ghost Sto
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/51/38/)

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Ghost Stories., part 1, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old man was just beginning to say: "Not much farther--" when the sack slipped from between his teeth, and the old woman fell to the ground and was smashed all to pieces.

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**Who acts:** old man, sack, old woman · **What happens:** begin, say, slip, fall, smash · **To what, where:** pieces · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Ghost Stories., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, sack, old woman), 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:pg22373:51:38
# text = The old man was just beginning to say: "Not much farther--" when the sack slipped from between his teeth, and the old woman fell to the ground and was smashed all to pieces.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	beginning	begin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
12	much	much	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	farther	far	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	_
16	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	sack	sack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	slipped	slip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	between	between	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	smashed	smash	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	conj	_	_
36	all	all	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past · progressive | the old man |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the old man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **slip** | past | the sack |  |  |  |  | from man's teeth | vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from tooth=Co-Patient |
| 4 | **fall** | past | the old woman |  |  |  |  | to the ground | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to ground=Theme |
| 5 | **smash** | past · passive | the old woman *not said here* | pieces |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: piece=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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