---
title: For three whole years this went on; and every day he greeted the unc… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: For three whole years this went on; and every day he greeted the unclean spirit with a hammer and spat on him. Who acts: this, man. 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 54

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For three whole years this went on; and every day he greeted the unclean spirit with a hammer and spat on him.

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**Who acts:** this, man · **What happens:** go on, greet · **To what, where:** unclean spirit

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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 (this, 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:pg62509:16:54
# text = For three whole years this went on; and every day he greeted the unclean spirit with a hammer and spat on him.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
3	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
6	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	on	on	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	det	_	_
11	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	greeted	greet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	unclean	unclean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	hammer	hammer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	spat	spat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go on** | past | this |  |  |  | year |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **greet** *speech: greet* | past | man | the unclean spirit |  |  | day | with a hammer and spat on DEVIL | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spirit=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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