---
title: When he has gnawed his way with these through all obstacles, he firs… — Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Musc… · tree and pragmatics
description: When he has gnawed his way with these through all obstacles, he first destroys the babes he finds in a house, and then the older inmates. Who acts: name. A sentence of «Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore», Ghost Stories., part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore, Ghost Stories., part 4, sentence 96

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When he has gnawed his way with these through all obstacles, he first destroys the babes he finds in a house, and then the older inmates.

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**Who acts:** name · **What happens:** gnaw, destroy, find · **To what, where:** way, obstacles, babes, house

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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 (name), 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:pg22373:54:96
# text = When he has gnawed his way with these through all obstacles, he first destroys the babes he finds in a house, and then the older inmates.
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	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	gnawed	gnaw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	4	obl	_	_
9	through	through	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	det	_	_
11	obstacles	obstacle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	15	advmod	_	_
15	destroys	destroy	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	babes	babe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	finds	find	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	amod	_	_
28	inmates	inmate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gnaw** | present · perfect | name | name's way |  | all obstacles |  | with these | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Patient |
| 2 | **destroy** | present | name | the babes and the older inmates |  |  |  | first *property* | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent babe=Patient |
| 3 | **find** | present | name | the babes and the older inmates *not said here* |  | a house |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent babe=Topic |

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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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