---
title: When they began to feed Alyósha, what was a week’s food for any othe… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When they began to feed Alyósha, what was a week’s food for any other babe was a day’s food for him, what was a year’s food for others was a week’s food for him. Who acts: pope, Alyósha, food. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 20, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 20, sentence 25

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When they began to feed Alyósha, what was a week’s food for any other babe was a day’s food for him, what was a year’s food for others was a week’s food for him.

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**Who acts:** pope, Alyósha, food · **What happens:** begin, feed, be · **To what, where:** food

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (pope, Alyósha, food), 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:pg62509:20:25
# text = When they began to feed Alyósha, what was a week’s food for any other babe was a day’s food for him, what was a year’s food for others was a week’s food for him.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	feed	feed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	Alyósha	Alyósha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	13	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	week	week	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’s	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
16	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	babe	babe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’s	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	31	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’s	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	_
32	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	week	week	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	’s	's	PART	POS	_	36	case	_	_
38	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | pope |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **feed** | to-infinitive | pope *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for ALYÓSHA *= alyósha* | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past | Alyósha | a week's food |  |  | week | for any other babe | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | past | Alyósha | a day's food and a year's food |  |  | day | for son | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** | past | a day's food and a year's food | a year's food |  |  | year | for others | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | past | a day's food and a year's food | a week's food |  |  | week |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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