---
title: But, as old age crept on, they, for some reason, began to become poo… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But, as old age crept on, they, for some reason, began to become poor; and they became so poor that Nicholas, from a famous merchant, became a mere tradesman, and they only had one little shop, and in the shop there was a chest of tobacco, a few nails, and a little iron. Who acts: old age, mother, c
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 21, sentence 39

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But, as old age crept on, they, for some reason, began to become poor; and they became so poor that Nicholas, from a famous merchant, became a mere tradesman, and they only had one little shop, and in the shop there was a chest of tobacco, a few nails, and a little iron.

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**Who acts:** old age, mother, chest · **What happens:** creep on, begin, become, have, be · **To what, where:** mother, famous merchant, mere tradesman, one little shop, shop

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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 (old age, mother, chest), 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:pg62509:21:39
# text = But, as old age crept on, they, for some reason, began to become poor; and they became so poor that Nicholas, from a famous merchant, became a mere tradesman, and they only had one little shop, and in the shop there was a chest of tobacco, a few nails, and a little iron.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	crept	creep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	on	on	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	det	_	_
13	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
23	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	xcomp	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
26	Nicholas	Nicholas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	famous	famous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	mere	mere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	tradesman	tradesman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
40	only	only	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
42	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	44	nummod	_	_
43	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	shop	shop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	shop	shop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	_
50	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	51	expl	_	_
51	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	parataxis	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	chest	chest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	tobacco	tobacco	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	nails	nail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
62	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
63	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	64	amod	_	_
64	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **creep on** | past | old age | mother |  |  |  | for some reason; a little iron *obl* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **begin** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **become** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | poor *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **become** | past | mother |  |  | a famous merchant |  | poor *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **become** | past | mother *not said here* | a mere tradesman |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **have** | past | mother | one little shop |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shop=Patient |
| 7 | **be** | past | a chest of tobacco and a few nails |  |  | the shop; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in shop=Location |

<!-- .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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