---
title: Whilst the witch was swimming through the lake Iván Tsarévich flew a… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Whilst the witch was swimming through the lake Iván Tsarévich flew a vast way, and she was swifter than he, and again came near. Who acts: witch. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 23, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 23, sentence 24

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Whilst the witch was swimming through the lake Iván Tsarévich flew a vast way, and she was swifter than he, and again came near.

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**Who acts:** witch · **What happens:** swim, fly, be, come · **To what, where:** lake, vast way

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (witch), 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:pg62509:23:24
# text = Whilst the witch was swimming through the lake Iván Tsarévich flew a vast way, and she was swifter than he, and again came near.
1	Whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	swimming	swim	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	Iván	Iván	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
10	Tsarévich	Tsarévich	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	flat	_	_
11	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	vast	vast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	swifter	swift	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	11	conj	_	_
20	than	than	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	again	again	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
26	near	near	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swim** | past · progressive | the witch |  |  | the lake |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through lake=Trajectory |
| 2 | **fly** | past |  | a vast way |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location way=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | witch |  |  |  |  | than Iván; swift *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **come** | past |  |  |  |  | again | near *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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