---
title: They went about like simple people, and nobody could have known that… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They went about like simple people, and nobody could have known that it was Christ and the twelve Apostles. Who acts: Christ, earth. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 15, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 15, sentence 102

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They went about like simple people, and nobody could have known that it was Christ and the twelve Apostles.

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**Who acts:** Christ, earth · **What happens:** go about, know, be · **To what, where:** nobody, Christ

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Christ, earth), 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:pg62509:15:102
# text = They went about like simple people, and nobody could have known that it was Christ and the twelve Apostles.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	about	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	simple	simple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux	_	_
12	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	Christ	Christ	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
20	Apostles	Apostle	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go about** | past | Christ |  |  |  |  | like simple people; about *property* | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **know** | could · perfect · passive |  | nobody |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is a** | past | earth | Christ and the twelve Apostles |  |  |  | the twelve Apostles *conj* | 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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