---
title: It was always thought that she was a man, and they called her Vasíli… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It was always thought that she was a man, and they called her Vasíli Vasílyevich. Who acts: VASILÍSA, girls. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 18, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 18, sentence 45

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It was always thought that she was a man, and they called her Vasíli Vasílyevich.

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**Who acts:** VASILÍSA, girls · **What happens:** think, be, call · **To what, where:** fashion, man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (VASILÍSA, girls), 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:pg62509:18:45
# text = It was always thought that she was a man, and they called her Vasíli Vasílyevich.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
14	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	Vasíli	Vasíli	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	xcomp	_	_
16	Vasílyevich	Vasílyevich	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | fashion |  |  |  | always *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past | VASILÍSA *= vasilísa* | a man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **call** | past | girls *= girl* |  |  |  |  | VASILÍSA's Vasíli *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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