---
title: “If there were a log there fifty _puds_, I could throw it up and all… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “If there were a log there fifty _puds_, I could throw it up and allow it to fall on my head without feeling the blow.” Who acts: Woodsprite, log. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 17, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 17, sentence 142

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“If there were a log there fifty \_puds\_, I could throw it up and allow it to fall on my head without feeling the blow.”

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**Who acts:** Woodsprite, log · **What happens:** be, throw up, allow, fall, feel · **To what, where:** log, head, blow

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Woodsprite, log), 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:pg62509:17:142
# text = “If there were a log there fifty _puds_, I could throw it up and allow it to fall on my head without feeling the blow.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	log	log	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
7	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	_
8	fifty	fifty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
9	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	puds	pud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	up	up	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
27	feeling	feel	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  |  | fifty puds *obl*; there *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **throw up** *in a quote* | could | the Woodsprite *= woodsprite* | log |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **allow** *in a quote* | infinitive | the Woodsprite *= woodsprite* *not said here* | log |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer it=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **fall** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | log *not said here* |  |  | my head |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on head=Location |
| 5 | **feel** *in a quote* | gerund | log *not said here* | the blow |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blow=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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