---
title: So they asked the widow for a night’s rest, and the widow was poor,… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So they asked the widow for a night’s rest, and the widow was poor, poor of the poorest; she had nothing at all. Who acts: Christ, widow. 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 105

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So they asked the widow for a night’s rest, and the widow was poor, poor of the poorest; she had nothing at all.

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**Who acts:** Christ, widow · **What happens:** ask, be, have · **To what, where:** widow, nothing, all

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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, widow), 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:pg62509:15:105
# text = So they asked the widow for a night’s rest, and the widow was poor, poor of the poorest; she had nothing at all.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	widow	widow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’s	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	widow	widow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	poorest	poor	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
25	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	24	obj	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Christ |  | the widow |  |  | for a night's rest | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent widow=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | past | the widow |  |  |  |  | poor *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | the widow *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of the poorest | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | WIDOW | nothing |  | all |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient |

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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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