---
title: Once upon a time there was a soldier who had served God and the Grea… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time there was a soldier who had served God and the Great Sovereign for twenty-five whole years, and had only in the end earned three biscuits, and was journeying back home. Who acts: soldier, end. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 12, with its dependen
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 12, sentence 105

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Once upon a time there was a soldier who had served God and the Great Sovereign for twenty-five whole years, and had only in the end earned three biscuits, and was journeying back home.

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**Who acts:** soldier, end · **What happens:** be, serve, have, earn, journey · **To what, where:** God, three biscuits

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (soldier, end), 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:pg62509:12:105
# text = Once upon a time there was a soldier who had served God and the Great Sovereign for twenty-five whole years, and had only in the end earned three biscuits, and was journeying back home.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
12	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	Great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	Sovereign	Sovereign	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
18	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	_
21	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
26	only	only	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	earned	earn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	ccomp	_	_
31	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	biscuits	biscuit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	journeying	journey	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	conj	_	_
37	back	back	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	home	home	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a soldier |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **serve** | past · perfect | a soldier | God and the Great Sovereign |  |  | year |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent god=Attribute |
| 3 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **earn** | past | the end | three biscuits |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent biscuit=Theme |
| 5 | **journey** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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