---
title: Once upon a time, in a certain kingdom, in a city of yore, there was… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time, in a certain kingdom, in a city of yore, there was a King who had a dwarf son. Who acts: King. 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 39

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Once upon a time, in a certain kingdom, in a city of yore, there was a King who had a dwarf son.

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**Who acts:** King · **What happens:** be, have · **To what, where:** dwarf son

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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 (King), 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:pg62509:17:39
# text = Once upon a time, in a certain kingdom, in a city of yore, there was a King who had a dwarf son.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	18	advmod	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	yore	yore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
17	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	18	expl	_	_
18	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	dwarf	dwarf	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a King *not said here* |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | a King | a dwarf son |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=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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