---
title: He, without noticing, touched the youngest princess’s dress: she was… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He, without noticing, touched the youngest princess’s dress: she was frightened and said to her sisters, “O my sisters, somebody has stepped on my dress. Who acts: nobleman. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 14, sentence 4

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He, without noticing, touched the youngest princess’s dress: she was frightened and said to her sisters, “O my sisters, somebody has stepped on my dress.

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**Who acts:** nobleman · **What happens:** notice, touch, frighten, say, step · **To what, where:** dress, princess, sisters, somebody · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (nobleman), 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:pg62509:14:4
# text = He, without noticing, touched the youngest princess’s dress: she was frightened and said to her sisters, “O my sisters, somebody has stepped on my dress.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	noticing	notice	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	amod	_	_
9	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’s	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	dress	dress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	25	discourse	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	somebody	somebody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	stepped	step	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	dress	dress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **notice** | gerund | nobleman |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **touch** | past |  | the youngest princess's dress |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme dress=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **frighten** | past · passive |  | princess |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | princess's sisters and my sisters |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to sister=Recipient |
| 5 | **step** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | somebody |  | my dress |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=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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