---
title: These great collectors were actuated only by the desire for accuracy… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: These great collectors were actuated only by the desire for accuracy; they appended laboriously erudite notes; but they were not literary men and did not sophisticate, or improve on their material. Who acts: desire, collectors. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 1, 
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 1, sentence 19

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These great collectors were actuated only by the desire for accuracy; they appended laboriously erudite notes; but they were not literary men and did not sophisticate, or improve on their material.

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**Who acts:** desire, collectors · **What happens:** actuate, append, not be, not sophisticate, improve · **To what, where:** great collectors, erudite notes, literary men, material

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (desire, collectors), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg62509:1:20
# text = These great collectors were actuated only by the desire for accuracy; they appended laboriously erudite notes; but they were not literary men and did not sophisticate, or improve on their material.
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	collectors	collector	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	actuated	actuate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	desire	desire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	accuracy	accuracy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	appended	append	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
15	laboriously	laboriously	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	erudite	erudite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	notes	note	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
23	literary	literary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	sophisticate	sophisticate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	improve	improve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	material	material	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **actuate** | past · passive | the desire for accuracy | this great collectors |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient |
| 2 | **append** | past | collectors *= collector* | erudite notes |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **is a** | past | collectors *= collector* | literary men |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **sophisticate** | past · do-support | the desire for accuracy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **improve** | infinitive | the desire for accuracy *not said here* |  |  | collectors's material |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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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:** «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Project Gutenberg book 62509 (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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