---
title: Very soon the devils saw that they could not possibly stand such tre… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Very soon the devils saw that they could not possibly stand such treatment, and they began to shriek: “Mercy on us!—mercy on us! Who acts: devils. 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 28

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Very soon the devils saw that they could not possibly stand such treatment, and they began to shriek: “Mercy on us!—mercy on us!

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**Who acts:** devils · **What happens:** see, not stand, begin, shriek · **To what, where:** Mercy, such treatment · **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 (devils), 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:pg62509:13:28
# text = Very soon the devils saw that they could not possibly stand such treatment, and they began to shriek: “Mercy on us!—mercy on us!
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	devils	devil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	possibly	possibly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
12	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	treatment	treatment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	shriek	shriek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
21	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	Mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the devils | Mercy on us and mercy on us |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **stand** | could | devils *= devil* | such treatment |  |  |  | possibly *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer treatment=Stimulus |
| 3 | **begin** | past | devils *= devil* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **shriek** | to-infinitive | devils *= devil* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «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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