--- title: And he asked him, saying, "Tell me, now, which is the best gift to a… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics description: And he asked him, saying, "Tell me, now, which is the best gift to ask of God: a tsardom, or great riches, or a good wife?"--And the third brother said, "What a question! Who acts: brother, third brother. A sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Tsar and the Angel, with its dependency --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/19/162/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/) / [The Tsar and the Angel](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/19/) / 162 # Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, The Tsar and the Angel, sentence 162 And he asked him, saying, "Tell me, now, which is the best gift to ask of God: a tsardom, or great riches, or a good wife?"--And the third brother said, "What a question! **Who acts:** brother, third brother · **What happens:** ask, say, tell, be · **To what, where:** tsardom, three, brother, best gift · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (brother, third brother), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg29672:19:162 # text = And he asked him, saying, "Tell me, now, which is the best gift to ask of God: a tsardom, or great riches, or a good wife?"--And the third brother said, "What a question! 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 iobj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 6 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 3 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 " " PUNCT `` _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 9 Tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 ccomp _ _ 10 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 9 iobj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 12 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 9 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 14 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 18 nsubj _ _ 15 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 18 cop _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 17 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 18 amod _ _ 18 gift gift NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ _ 19 to to PART TO _ 20 mark _ _ 20 ask ask VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 18 acl _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 : : PUNCT : _ 25 punct _ _ 24 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 tsardom tsardom NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 27 or or CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 28 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 riches rich NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 31 or or CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 32 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 33 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 35 ? ? PUNCT . _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 " " PUNCT '' _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 37 -- -- PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 38 And and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 40 third third ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 41 amod _ _ 41 brother brother NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 nsubj _ _ 42 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 44 " " PUNCT `` _ 45 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 42 ccomp _ _ 46 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 question question NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ! ! PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | brother | a tsardom or great riches | three | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | gerund | brother *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | infinitive | | | brother | | now | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient | | 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | | the best gift | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | | | | | | of God | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent of god=Recipient | | 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the third brother | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 161](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/19/161/) - next →: [sentence 163](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/19/163/) - ↑ back to [The Tsar and the Angel](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/19/)