---
title: And they used to torture her by piling all the work they could on he… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And they used to torture her by piling all the work they could on her, that she might grow thin and ugly, and might be tanned by the wind and the sun. And the child lived a hard life. Who acts: stepmother, VASILÍSA, wind, child. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 14
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 14, sentence 48

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And they used to torture her by piling all the work they could on her, that she might grow thin and ugly, and might be tanned by the wind and the sun. And the child lived a hard life.

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**Who acts:** stepmother, VASILÍSA, wind, child · **What happens:** use, torture, pile, grow, tan, live · **To what, where:** VASILÍSA, work, hard life

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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 (stepmother, VASILÍSA, wind, child), 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:pg62509:14:48
# text = And they used to torture her by piling all the work they could on her, that she might grow thin and ugly, and might be tanned by the wind and the sun. And the child lived a hard life.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	torture	torture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	piling	pile	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
9	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	11	det:predet	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
21	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	ugly	ugly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	tanned	tan	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	sun.	sun.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	_
35	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | stepmother |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **torture** | to-infinitive | stepmother *not said here* | VASILÍSA *= vasilísa* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer |
| 3 | **pile** | could | stepmother *not said here* | all work |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP.theme V NP»: agent=Theme work=Destination |
| 4 | **grow** | might | VASILÍSA *= vasilísa* |  |  |  |  | thin *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **tan** | might · passive | the wind and the sun. |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **live** | past | the child | a hard life |  |  |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme life=Location |

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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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