---
title: The only certain methods of destroying a vampire appear to be either… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: The only certain methods of destroying a vampire appear to be either to consume him by fire, or to chop off his head with a grave-digger's shovel. Who acts: only certain methods. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Ghost Stories., part 4, with its depende
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Ghost Stories., part 4, sentence 116

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The only certain methods of destroying a vampire appear to be either to consume him by fire, or to chop off his head with a grave-digger's shovel.

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**Who acts:** only certain methods · **What happens:** destroy, appear, be, chop off · **To what, where:** vampire, head

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This is a sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Ghost Stories., 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 (only certain methods), 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:pg22373:54:116
# text = The only certain methods of destroying a vampire appear to be either to consume him by fire, or to chop off his head with a grave-digger's shovel.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	methods	method	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	destroying	destroy	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	vampire	vampire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	appear	appear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	cop	_	_
12	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc:preconj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	consume	consume	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	chop	chop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
22	off	off	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
27	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	digger	digger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	's	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	shovel	shovel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **destroy** | gerund | the only certain methods *not said here* | a vampire |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vampire=Patient |
| 2 | **appear** | present | the only certain methods |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **is** | to-infinitive | the only certain methods *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by fire; consume *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **chop off** | to-infinitive | the only certain methods *not said here* | Mannhardt's head |  |  |  | with a grave digger's shovel | vn carve-21.2-2 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent head=Patient with shovel=Instrument |

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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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