---
title: The rich man put in a plea to the Court that his poor brother had to… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The rich man put in a plea to the Court that his poor brother had torn off the horse’s tail. Who acts: poor brother. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 21, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 21, sentence 12

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The rich man put in a plea to the Court that his poor brother had torn off the horse’s tail.

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**Who acts:** poor brother · **What happens:** put, tear off · **To what, where:** rich man, plea, Court

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (poor brother), 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:pg62509:21:12
# text = The rich man put in a plea to the Court that his poor brother had torn off the horse’s tail.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	plea	plea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	obj	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	acl:relcl	_	_
17	off	off	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	’s	's	PART	POS	_	19	case	_	_
21	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | participle |  | the rich man *not said here* |  | a plea |  | to the Court | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in plea=Destination |
| 2 | **tear off** | past · perfect | man's poor brother | the Court |  |  |  | off the horse's tail | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent that=Patient tail=Result |

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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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