---
title: Then he called to mind how, once, his wife had said to him, "Beware,… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he called to mind how, once, his wife had said to him, "Beware, for Heaven's sake, of ever calling me a serpent. Who acts: Serpent, wife. A sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Serpent-wife, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, The Serpent-wife, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he called to mind how, once, his wife had said to him, "Beware, for Heaven's sake, of ever calling me a serpent.

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**Who acts:** Serpent, wife · **What happens:** call, mind, say, beware · **To what, where:** Serpent, wife · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Serpent-wife. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Serpent, wife), 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:pg29672:9:35
# text = Then he called to mind how, once, his wife had said to him, "Beware, for Heaven's sake, of ever calling me a serpent.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	mind	mind	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	Beware	beware	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	Heaven	Heaven	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	's	's	PART	POS	_	21	case	_	_
23	sake	sake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	27	advmod	_	_
27	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | past | Serpent |  |  |  | then |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **mind** | to-infinitive | Serpent *not said here* |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn care-88.1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | Serpent's wife |  | Serpent |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **beware** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | for Heaven's sake | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **call** *in a quote* | gerund |  | Serpent's wife *= wife* |  |  | ever |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme serpent=Result |

<!-- .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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