---
title: Why, the soldier was a State servant, and a soldier cannot be drowne… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Why, the soldier was a State servant, and a soldier cannot be drowned in the sea, nor be burned in the fire! Who acts: soldier. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 2, sentence 128

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Why, the soldier was a State servant, and a soldier cannot be drowned in the sea, nor be burned in the fire!

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**Who acts:** soldier · **What happens:** be, not drown, burn · **To what, where:** State servant, soldier, sea, fire

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (soldier), 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:pg62509:2:128
# text = Why, the soldier was a State servant, and a soldier cannot be drowned in the sea, nor be burned in the fire!
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	State	state	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	drowned	drown	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	parataxis	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	23	cc	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	burned	burn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	parataxis	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the soldier | a State servant |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **drown** | can · passive |  | a soldier |  | the sea |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **burn** | infinitive · passive |  |  |  | the fire |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: in fire=Location |

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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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