---
title: When the corpse perceived him, it came to meet him; not touching the… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: When the corpse perceived him, it came to meet him; not touching the earth with its feet, but keeping about a foot above it--the shroud fluttering after it. Who acts: corpse, way, shroud. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Ghost Stories., part 3, with it
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Ghost Stories., part 3, sentence 141

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the corpse perceived him, it came to meet him; not touching the earth with its feet, but keeping about a foot above it--the shroud fluttering after it.

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**Who acts:** corpse, way, shroud · **What happens:** perceive, come, meet, not touch, keep, flutter · **To what, where:** moujik, earth, way

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Ghost Stories., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (corpse, way, shroud), 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:pg22373:53:141
# text = When the corpse perceived him, it came to meet him; not touching the earth with its feet, but keeping about a foot above it--the shroud fluttering after it.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	corpse	corpse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	perceived	perceive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	touching	touch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	conj	_	_
23	about	about	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	above	above	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	shroud	shroud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	parataxis	_	_
31	fluttering	flutter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	30	acl	_	_
32	after	after	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perceive** | past | the corpse | moujik |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 2 | **come** | past | way |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **meet** | to-infinitive | way *not said here* | moujik |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **not** **touch** | gerund | way *not said here* | the earth |  |  |  | with way's feet | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent earth=Experiencer with foot=Instrument |
| 5 | **keep** | gerund | way *not said here* |  |  | way |  | about a foot | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent about foot=Location |
| 6 | **flutter** | gerund | the shroud *not said here* |  |  |  | after way |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «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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