---
title: So the attendants took the Tsarévich, and were on the point of hangi… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So the attendants took the Tsarévich, and were on the point of hanging him, when the Tsarévich fell on his knees before his father and began to ask for three hours’ interval. Who acts: attendants, point, Tsarévich. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 18, with its dep
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 18, sentence 28

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So the attendants took the Tsarévich, and were on the point of hanging him, when the Tsarévich fell on his knees before his father and began to ask for three hours’ interval.

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**Who acts:** attendants, point, Tsarévich · **What happens:** take, be, hang, fall, begin, ask · **To what, where:** Tsarévich, point, knees

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (attendants, point, Tsarévich), 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:pg62509:18:28
# text = So the attendants took the Tsarévich, and were on the point of hanging him, when the Tsarévich fell on his knees before his father and began to ask for three hours’ interval.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	attendants	attendant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Tsarévich	Tsarévich	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
13	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	hanging	hang	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	Tsarévich	Tsarévich	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
24	before	before	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
32	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	33	nummod	_	_
33	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’	's	PART	POS	_	33	case	_	_
35	interval	interval	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | the attendants |  | the Tsarévich |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument tsarévich=Destination |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  | the point |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **hang** | gerund | the point *not said here* | Tsarévich |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 4 | **fall** | past | the Tsarévich |  |  | Tsarévich's knees | before Tsarévich's father |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on knee=Location |
| 5 | **begin** | past | the Tsarévich *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | the Tsarévich *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for hours interval | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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