--- title: My master has given me a task that cannot be done."--"What task is t… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics description: My master has given me a task that cannot be done."--"What task is that?"--"Why, to fetch him the thrice-lovely Nastasia of the sea!"--"Oh-ho!" laughed the horse, "that is not a task, but a trifle. Who acts: task, ho, that. A sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Vampire and St Micha --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/8/168/) [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 Vampire and St Michael](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/8/) / 168 # Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, The Vampire and St Michael, sentence 168 My master has given me a task that cannot be done."--"What task is that?"--"Why, to fetch him the thrice-lovely Nastasia of the sea!"--"Oh-ho!" laughed the horse, "that is not a task, but a trifle. **Who acts:** task, ho, that · **What happens:** give, not do, be, fetch, laugh, not be · **To what, where:** master, me, task, that, lovely Nastasia, nobleman · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Vampire and St Michael. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (task, ho, that), 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:pg29672:8:168 # text = My master has given me a task that cannot be done."--"What task is that?"--"Why, to fetch him the thrice-lovely Nastasia of the sea!"--"Oh-ho!" laughed the horse, "that is not a task, but a trifle. 1 My my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 master master NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj:pass _ _ 3 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 given give VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 iobj _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nsubj _ _ 8 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 12 obj _ _ 9 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 10 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 12 advmod _ _ 11 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 12 aux:pass _ _ 12 done do VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 7 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 14 " " PUNCT '' _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 -- -- PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 " " PUNCT `` _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 20 obj _ _ 18 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nsubj _ _ 19 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 cop _ _ 20 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 4 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ? ? PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 " " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 23 -- -- PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 " " PUNCT `` _ 25 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 25 Why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 27 to to PART TO _ 28 mark _ _ 28 fetch fetch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 47 ccomp _ _ 29 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 obj _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 31 thrice thrice ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 lovely lovely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 Nastasia Nastasia PROPN NNP Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 38 ! ! PUNCT . _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 39 " " PUNCT '' _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 40 -- -- PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 " " PUNCT `` _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 Oh oh INTJ UH _ 44 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 43 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 42 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 ho ho NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 ! ! PUNCT . _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 46 " " PUNCT '' _ 44 punct _ _ 47 laughed laugh VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 advcl:relcl _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 horse horse NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 51 " " PUNCT '' _ 47 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 52 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 56 nsubj _ _ 53 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 56 cop _ _ 54 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 56 advmod _ _ 55 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 56 det _ _ 56 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 57 , , PUNCT , _ 60 punct _ _ 58 but but CCONJ CC _ 60 cc _ _ 59 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 60 det _ _ 60 trifle trifle NOUN NN Number=Sing 56 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 61 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **give** | present · perfect · passive | | My master | me | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient i=Theme | | 2 | **not** **do** | can · passive | | a task | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: that=Eventuality | | 3 | **is a** | present | a task | that | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **fetch** | to-infinitive | ho *not said here* | the lovely Nastasia of the sea | nobleman | | | | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary nastasia=Theme | | 5 | **laugh** *in a quote* | past | ho | the horse | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **not** **is a** | present | that | a task but a trifle | | | | | tree rules | 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 167](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/8/167/) - next →: [sentence 169](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/8/169/) - ↑ back to [The Vampire and St Michael](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg29672/8/)