---
title: So a robber took a big knife and crept up into the garret; but as so… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So a robber took a big knife and crept up into the garret; but as soon as ever he had poked his head into the door, the soldier swept his cutlass round, and off came his head. Who acts: robber, luck, soldier, head. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 19, with its dep
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 19, sentence 70

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So a robber took a big knife and crept up into the garret; but as soon as ever he had poked his head into the door, the soldier swept his cutlass round, and off came his head.

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**Who acts:** robber, luck, soldier, head · **What happens:** take, creep up, poke, sweep, come · **To what, where:** big knife, garret, head, cutlass

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (robber, luck, soldier, head), 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:pg62509:19:70
# text = So a robber took a big knife and crept up into the garret; but as soon as ever he had poked his head into the door, the soldier swept his cutlass round, and off came his head.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	robber	robber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	crept	creep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	up	up	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	into	into	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	garret	garret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
16	as	as	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	22	advmod	_	_
18	as	as	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	17	obl	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	poked	poke	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	into	into	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
31	swept	sweep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	cutlass	cutlass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	round	round	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	off	off	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | a robber | a big knife |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knife=Theme |
| 2 | **creep up** | past | a robber *not said here* |  |  | the garret |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into garret=Destination |
| 3 | **poke** | past · perfect | luck | luck's head |  |  | ever | into the door; soon *property* | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.patient»: agent=Agent head=Instrument into door=Patient |
| 4 | **sweep** | past | the soldier | luck's cutlass |  |  |  | round *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme cutlass=Trajectory |
| 5 | **come** | past | luck's head |  |  |  |  | off *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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