---
title: Then he reflected what a good wife he had had, and how she herself h… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he reflected what a good wife he had had, and how she herself had sought him out, and how she had waited upon him continually and done him boundless good, and yet he had not been able to refrain his tongue, so that now, maybe, he would be without a wife for the rest of his days. Who acts: Serpe
---

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# Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, The Serpent-wife, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he reflected what a good wife he had had, and how she herself had sought him out, and how she had waited upon him continually and done him boundless good, and yet he had not been able to refrain his tongue, so that now, maybe, he would be without a wife for the rest of his days.

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**Who acts:** Serpent, wife · **What happens:** reflect, have, seek out, wait, do, not be · **To what, where:** good wife, wife, Serpent, tongue

<!-- .vabout -->
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.

<!-- .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:pg29672:9:38
# text = Then he reflected what a good wife he had had, and how she herself had sought him out, and how she had waited upon him continually and done him boundless good, and yet he had not been able to refrain his tongue, so that now, maybe, he would be without a wife for the rest of his days.
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	reflected	reflect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	obj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	14	conj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	sought	seek	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	out	out	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	waited	wait	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	conj	_	_
26	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	_
28	continually	continually	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	done	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	boundless	boundless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
36	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
38	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
39	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	41	advmod	_	_
40	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	41	cop	_	_
41	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	refrain	refrain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	xcomp	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
47	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	3	conj	_	_
48	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	47	fixed	_	_
49	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	47	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
51	maybe	maybe	ADV	RB	_	49	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
53	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
54	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
55	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	cop	_	_
56	without	without	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	_
59	for	for	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nmod	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	64	nmod:poss	_	_
64	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	61	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reflect** | past | Serpent |  |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past · perfect | Serpent | a good wife *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |
| 3 | **seek out** | past · perfect · passive |  | wife |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **wait** | past · perfect | wife |  |  |  |  | upon Serpent; continually *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon he=Location |
| 5 | **do** | past | wife *not said here* | Serpent |  |  |  | good *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Eventuality |
| 6 | **not** **is** | past · perfect | Serpent |  |  |  | yet | able *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **refrain** | to-infinitive | Serpent *not said here* | Serpent's tongue |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | would | Serpent |  |  |  |  | without a wife; for the rest of Serpent's days | tree rules |

<!-- .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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