---
title: Tell me, which of the three is the best gift to ask for?"--And his e… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Tell me, which of the three is the best gift to ask for?"--And his eldest brother said to him, "I know not, and who does know? Who acts: you, eldest brother, I. A sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Tsar and the Angel, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, The Tsar and the Angel, sentence 157

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tell me, which of the three is the best gift to ask for?"--And his eldest brother said to him, "I know not, and who does know?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, eldest brother, I · **What happens:** tell, be, ask, say, not know, know · **To what, where:** me, tsardom · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Tsar and the Angel. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, eldest brother, I), 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:pg29672:19:157
# text = Tell me, which of the three is the best gift to ask for?"--And his eldest brother said to him, "I know not, and who does know?
1	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	1	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
7	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	amod	_	_
11	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	acl	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	21	amod	_	_
21	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	ccomp	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
33	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of the best gift | tree rules |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | tsardom's eldest brother |  | tsardom |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to he=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **know** | present · do-support |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: 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:** «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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