---
title: So the smiths took the nosebag, and they began to whisper to each ot… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So the smiths took the nosebag, and they began to whisper to each other: “How fearfully heavy it is! Who acts: smiths, helter. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 13, sentence 23

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So the smiths took the nosebag, and they began to whisper to each other: “How fearfully heavy it is!

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**Who acts:** smiths, helter · **What happens:** take, begin, whisper, be · **To what, where:** nosebag, each · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (smiths, helter), 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:pg62509:13:23
# text = So the smiths took the nosebag, and they began to whisper to each other: “How fearfully heavy it is!
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	smiths	smith	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	nosebag	nosebag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	whisper	whisper	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	12	obl	_	_
15	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
19	fearfully	fearfully	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | the smiths | the nosebag |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent nosebag=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **begin** | past | smiths *= smith* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | smiths *= smith* *not said here* |  | each |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to each=Recipient |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | helter |  |  |  |  | fearfully, heavy *property* | tree rules |

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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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