---
title: When a holy feast-day came by, he went into the church and lit a tap… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When a holy feast-day came by, he went into the church and lit a taper in front of the saints; but, as he approached the devil he spat on him. Who acts: holy feast day, man. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 16, sentence 53

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When a holy feast-day came by, he went into the church and lit a taper in front of the saints; but, as he approached the devil he spat on him.

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**Who acts:** holy feast day, man · **What happens:** come by, go, light, approach, spat · **To what, where:** church, taper, front, devil

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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 (holy feast day, man), 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:pg62509:16:53
# text = When a holy feast-day came by, he went into the church and lit a taper in front of the saints; but, as he approached the devil he spat on him.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
3	holy	holy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
4	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	into	into	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	lit	light	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	taper	taper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	saints	saint	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	devil	devil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	spat	spat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|Typo=Yes|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come by** | past | a holy feast day |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **go** | past | man |  |  | the church |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into church=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **light** | past | man *not said here* | a taper |  | front of the saints |  |  | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent taper=Product |
| 4 | **approach** | past | man | the devil |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent devil=Theme |
| 5 | **spat** | present | man | the devil *not said here* |  |  |  | on DEVIL | 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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