--- title: Soon they arrived: it may be near, it may be far—the tale is soon to… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Soon they arrived: it may be near, it may be far—the tale is soon told, but the deed is not soon done—and suddenly robbers came upon them and plundered them of all their goods: and only left themselves alive and unscathed. Who acts: wares, sail, robbers. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. A --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/21/68/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Russian Folk-Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/) / [Opening, part 21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/21/) / 68 # Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 21, sentence 68 Soon they arrived: it may be near, it may be far—the tale is soon told, but the deed is not soon done—and suddenly robbers came upon them and plundered them of all their goods: and only left themselves alive and unscathed. **Who acts:** wares, sail, robbers · **What happens:** arrive, be, tell, not do, come, plunder · **To what, where:** tale, deed, wares · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (wares, sail, robbers), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg62509:21:68 # text = Soon they arrived: it may be near, it may be far—the tale is soon told, but the deed is not soon done—and suddenly robbers came upon them and plundered them of all their goods: and only left themselves alive and unscathed. 1 Soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 3 advmod _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 arrived arrive VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 4 : : PUNCT : _ 8 punct _ _ 5 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 6 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 8 aux _ _ 7 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 8 cop _ _ 8 near near ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 10 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 11 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 12 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 13 cop _ _ 13 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 19 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 14 — - PUNCT : _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 tale tale NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj:pass _ _ 17 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 19 aux:pass _ _ 18 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 19 advmod _ _ 19 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 21 but but CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 deed deed NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj:pass _ _ 24 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux:pass _ _ 25 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 27 advmod _ _ 26 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 27 advmod _ _ 27 done do VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 — - PUNCT : _ 32 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 30 suddenly suddenly ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 robbers robber NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 nsubj _ _ 32 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 33 upon upon ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 obl _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 plundered plunder VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 conj _ _ 37 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 41 det:predet _ _ 40 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 goods goods NOUN NNS Number=Ptan 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 : : PUNCT : _ 45 punct _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 44 only only ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 45 left leave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 46 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 45 obj _ _ 47 alive alive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 xcomp _ _ 48 and and CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 49 unscathed unscathed ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **arrive** | past | wares *= ware* | | | | | soon *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **is** | may | sail | | | | | near *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **is** | may | sail | | | | | far *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · passive | | the tale | | | | soon *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 5 | **not** **do** | present · passive | | the deed | | | | soon *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | | 6 | **come** | past | robbers | | | | | upon wares *= ware* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon they=Location | | 7 | **plunder** | past | robbers *not said here* | wares *= ware* | | | | of wares's goods | vn deprive-10.6.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent they=Source of goods=Theme | | 8 | **leave** | past | wares *= ware* *not said here* | wares *= ware* | | | | alive *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/21/67/) - next →: [sentence 69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/21/69/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/21/)