--- title: “O Death,” he said, “give the Tsar my life and take me instead, for… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics description: “O Death,” he said, “give the Tsar my life and take me instead, for it doesn’t matter to me whether I live or die; for it is better to die by my own death than to suffer such a cruel punishment.” Who acts: Death, it, my. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 13, with i --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/13/69/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Russian Folk-Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/) / [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/13/) / 69 # Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 13, sentence 69 “O Death,” he said, “give the Tsar my life and take me instead, for it doesn’t matter to me whether I live or die; for it is better to die by my own death than to suffer such a cruel punishment.” **Who acts:** Death, it, my · **What happens:** say, give, take, not matter, live, die · **To what, where:** life, Tsar, Death, cruel punishment · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Death, it, my), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg62509:13:69 # text = “O Death,” he said, “give the Tsar my life and take me instead, for it doesn’t matter to me whether I live or die; for it is better to die by my own death than to suffer such a cruel punishment.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 O of ADP IN Abbr=Yes 3 case _ _ 3 Death Death PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 ” " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 6 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 “ " PUNCT `` _ 10 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 ccomp _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 Tsar Tsar PROPN NNP Number=Sing 10 iobj _ _ 13 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 16 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 conj _ _ 17 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 16 obj _ _ 18 instead instead ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 20 for for SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 21 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 22 does do AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 23 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 24 advmod _ _ 24 matter matter VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 parataxis _ _ 25 to to ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 24 obl _ _ 27 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 28 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 live live VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 advcl _ _ 30 or or CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 die die VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 29 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 ; ; PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 33 for for ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 expl _ _ 35 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 36 cop _ _ 36 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 7 parataxis _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 die die VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 csubj _ _ 39 by by ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 40 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 41 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ _ 43 than than SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 suffer suffer VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 advcl _ _ 46 such such DET PDT PronType=Ind 49 det:predet _ _ 47 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 48 cruel cruel ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ _ 49 punishment punishment NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 51 ” " PUNCT '' _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Death | | | | | of Death | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **give** *in a quote* | infinitive | | my life | the Tsar | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent tsar=Recipient life=Theme | | 3 | **take** *in a quote* | infinitive | | | Death | | | instead *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument i=Destination | | 4 | **not** **matter** *in a quote* | present · do-support | it | | Death | | | | vn matter-91 «NP V PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to i=Experiencer | | 5 | **live** *in a quote* | present | Death | | | | | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **die** *in a quote* | present | Death *not said here* | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 7 | **is** *in a quote* | present | | | | | | good *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **die** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | | | | | | by my own death | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 9 | **suffer** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | | such cruel punishment | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer punishment=Stimulus | | 10 | **die** *in a quote* | | my | | | | | | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/13/68/) - next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/13/70/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/13/)