---
title: He called to his twenty-one daughters to search the ears of corn wel… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He called to his twenty-one daughters to search the ears of corn well to see whether one single grain might not be found therein, and his daughters searched and searched, but there was not a single loose grain to be found. Who acts: serpent, daughters. A sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tal
---

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# Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, The Story of the Unlucky Days, part 2, sentence 4

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He called to his twenty-one daughters to search the ears of corn well to see whether one single grain might not be found therein, and his daughters searched and searched, but there was not a single loose grain to be found.

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**Who acts:** serpent, daughters · **What happens:** call, search, see, not find, not be, find · **To what, where:** one daughters, ears, one single grain, single loose grain · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Story of the Unlucky Days, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (serpent, daughters), 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:pg29672:26:4
# text = He called to his twenty-one daughters to search the ears of corn well to see whether one single grain might not be found therein, and his daughters searched and searched, but there was not a single loose grain to be found.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
5	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	search	search	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
18	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
19	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
20	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	ccomp	_	_
26	therein	therein	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj	_	_
31	searched	search	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	advcl	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	searched	search	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	37	expl	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
38	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	42	advmod	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
40	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
41	loose	loose	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
44	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	aux:pass	_	_
45	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | past | serpent |  | serpent's one daughters |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to daughter=Recipient |
| 2 | **search** | to-infinitive | serpent *not said here* | the ears of corn |  |  |  | well *property* | vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent ear=Location |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | serpent *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **not** **find** | might · passive |  | one single grain |  |  |  | therein *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 5 | **search** | past | serpent's daughters |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **search** | past | serpent's daughters *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **not** **is a** | past |  | a single loose grain |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **find** | to-infinitive · passive | serpent *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF» |

<!-- .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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