---
title: So a new game commenced; and then the little devil had to pry in eve… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So a new game commenced; and then the little devil had to pry in every nook and come back and tell the old devil: “It’s no use, grandfather—we have no more.” Who acts: little devil, game, we. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 12, sentence 171

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So a new game commenced; and then the little devil had to pry in every nook and come back and tell the old devil: “It’s no use, grandfather—we have no more.”

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**Who acts:** little devil, game, we · **What happens:** commence, have, pry, come back, tell, be · **To what, where:** new game, nook, old devil, use, more · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (little devil, game, we), 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:pg62509:12:171
# text = So a new game commenced; and then the little devil had to pry in every nook and come back and tell the old devil: “It’s no use, grandfather—we have no more.”
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	commenced	commence	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	devil	devil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	pry	pry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	17	det	_	_
17	nook	nook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
20	back	back	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	devil	devil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
27	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	31	det	_	_
31	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	grandfather	grandfather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
37	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	38	det	_	_
38	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **commence** | participle · passive |  | a new game |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | the little devil |  |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **pry** | to-infinitive | the little devil *not said here* |  |  | every nook |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **come back** | infinitive | the little devil *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | the little devil *not said here* |  | the old devil |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent devil=Recipient |
| 6 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | game | no use and grandfather |  |  |  | grandfather *conj* | tree rules |
| 7 | **have** *in a quote* | present | we | no more |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Patient |

<!-- .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:** «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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