---
title: It may be so, but, after all that Mr Andrew Lang has taught us on th… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It may be so, but, after all that Mr Andrew Lang has taught us on the subject, it would be rash for any mere philologist to assert positively that there can be anything really new in folk-lore under the sun. On the other hand, the comparative isolation and primitiveness of the Cossacks, and their re
---

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# Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, Russian Fairy Tales, sentence 34

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It may be so, but, after all that Mr Andrew Lang has taught us on the subject, it would be rash for any mere philologist to assert positively that there can be anything really new in folk-lore under the sun. On the other hand, the comparative isolation and primitiveness of the Cossacks, and their remoteness from the great theatres of historical events, would seem to be favourable conditions both for the safe preservation of old myths and the easy development of new ones.

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**Who acts:** variety · **What happens:** be, teach, assert, seem, isolate, preserve · **To what, where:** that, us, subject, positively, favourable conditions, Cossacks

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This is a sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», Russian Fairy Tales. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (variety), 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:pg29672:1:34
# text = It may be so, but, after all that Mr Andrew Lang has taught us on the subject, it would be rash for any mere philologist to assert positively that there can be anything really new in folk-lore under the sun. On the other hand, the comparative isolation and primitiveness of the Cossacks, and their remoteness from the great theatres of historical events, would seem to be favourable conditions both for the safe preservation of old myths and the easy development of new ones.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
9	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	15	det:predet	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	Mr	Mr	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	Andrew	Andrew	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	flat	_	_
13	Lang	Lang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	flat	_	_
14	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
16	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	cop	_	_
24	rash	rash	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	det	_	_
27	mere	mere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	philologist	philologist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	assert	assert	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
31	positively	positively	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	35	expl	_	_
34	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	advcl	_	_
36	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	35	nsubj	_	_
37	really	really	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	folk	folk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	lore	lore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
43	under	under	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	sun.	sun.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	_
46	On	on	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	comparative	comparative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	isolation	isolation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	appos	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
55	primitiveness	primitiveness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	conj	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	Cossacks	Cossack	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
60	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
61	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
62	remoteness	remoteness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	appos	_	_
63	from	from	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
65	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	66	amod	_	_
66	theatres	theatre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	62	nmod	_	_
67	of	of	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
68	historical	historical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	69	amod	_	_
69	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	72	punct	_	_
71	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	72	aux	_	_
72	seem	seem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	conj	_	_
73	to	to	PART	TO	_	76	mark	_	_
74	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	76	cop	_	_
75	favourable	favourable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	76	amod	_	_
76	conditions	condition	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	72	xcomp	_	_
77	both	both	ADV	RB	_	81	advmod	_	_
78	for	for	ADP	IN	_	81	case	_	_
79	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	81	det	_	_
80	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	81	amod	_	_
81	preservation	preservation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	76	nmod	_	_
82	of	of	ADP	IN	_	84	case	_	_
83	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	84	amod	_	_
84	myths	myth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	81	nmod	_	_
85	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	88	cc	_	_
86	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	88	det	_	_
87	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	88	amod	_	_
88	development	development	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	81	conj	_	_
89	of	of	ADP	IN	_	91	case	_	_
90	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	91	amod	_	_
91	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	88	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
92	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | may | variety |  |  |  |  | so *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **teach** *speech: other* | present · perfect · passive |  | that | us | the subject |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient we=Topic |
| 3 | **is** | would | variety |  |  |  |  | for any mere philologist; rash *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **assert** | to-infinitive | variety *not said here* | positively |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent positively=Theme |
| 5 | **seem** | would | variety *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **is a** | to-infinitive | variety *not said here* | favourable conditions |  |  |  | for the safe preservation of old myths and the easy development of new ones | tree rules |
| 7 | **isolate** |  |  | the Cossacks |  |  |  |  | nom isolation «state transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **preserve** |  |  | old myths |  |  |  |  | nom preservation «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 9 | **develop** |  |  | new ones |  |  |  |  | nom development «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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:** «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», Project Gutenberg book 29672 (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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