---
title: It was a bitter thing for the Tsar her father to gaze at his doleful… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It was a bitter thing for the Tsar her father to gaze at his doleful daughter. Who acts: heart, father. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 16, sentence 144

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It was a bitter thing for the Tsar her father to gaze at his doleful daughter.

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**Who acts:** heart, father · **What happens:** be, gaze · **To what, where:** bitter thing

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (heart, father), 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:pg62509:16:145
# text = It was a bitter thing for the Tsar her father to gaze at his doleful daughter.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	bitter	bitter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Tsar	Tsar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	gaze	gaze	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	doleful	doleful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | heart | a bitter thing |  |  |  | for the Tsar | tree rules |
| 2 | **gaze** | to-infinitive | soul's father |  |  |  |  | at father's doleful daughter | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at daughter=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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