---
title: “I should be very glad to take you,” Vertodúb replied, “but, as soon… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “I should be very glad to take you,” Vertodúb replied, “but, as soon as I have turned round all these oaks with all their roots, the hour will have come for me to die.” Who acts: Vertodúb, hour. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 22, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 22, sentence 154

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“I should be very glad to take you,” Vertodúb replied, “but, as soon as I have turned round all these oaks with all their roots, the hour will have come for me to die.”

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**Who acts:** Vertodúb, hour · **What happens:** be, take, reply, turn, come, die · **To what, where:** you, oaks, roots · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Vertodúb, hour), 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:pg62509:22:154
# text = “I should be very glad to take you,” Vertodúb replied, “but, as soon as I have turned round all these oaks with all their roots, the hour will have come for me to die.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	glad	glad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	ccomp	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
12	Vertodúb	Vertodúb	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	as	as	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	23	advmod	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	parataxis	_	_
24	round	round	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	27	det:predet	_	_
26	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	27	det	_	_
27	oaks	oak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	31	det:predet	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
35	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	aux	_	_
37	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	acl:relcl	_	_
38	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
39	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | should | Vertodúb |  |  |  |  | glad *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Vertodúb *not said here* |  | you |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument you=Destination |
| 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Vertodúb |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **turn** *in a quote* | present · perfect | Vertodúb |  |  | all oaks with oaks's roots |  | soon *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme round oak=Trajectory |
| 5 | **come** *in a quote* | future · perfect | the hour | oaks's roots *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **die** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Vertodúb |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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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