---
title: If any one were to make a pyre of aspen boughs, a hundred loads of t… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: If any one were to make a pyre of aspen boughs, a hundred loads of them, and were to burn me on that pyre, then he'd be able to get the better of me. Who acts: one, Soldier. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Ghost Stories., part 4, with its dependency t
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Ghost Stories., part 4, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If any one were to make a pyre of aspen boughs, a hundred loads of them, and were to burn me on that pyre, then he'd be able to get the better of me.

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**Who acts:** one, Soldier · **What happens:** make, burn, be, get · **To what, where:** pyre, me

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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 (one, Soldier), 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:pg22373:54:23
# text = If any one were to make a pyre of aspen boughs, a hundred loads of them, and were to burn me on that pyre, then he'd be able to get the better of me.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
3	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	pyre	pyre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	aspen	aspen	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	boughs	bough	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	loads	load	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	appos	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	burn	burn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
23	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	pyre	pyre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	32	advmod	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	cop	_	_
32	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	34	xcomp	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | any one | a pyre of aspen boughs |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset pyre=Product |
| 2 | **burn** | past | any one *not said here* | me |  | that pyre |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | would | Soldier |  |  |  | then | able *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **get** | to-infinitive | Soldier *not said here* |  |  |  |  | good *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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