---
title: Vertodúb guessed Iván was fleeing from his sister, and piled oaks on… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Vertodúb guessed Iván was fleeing from his sister, and piled oaks on the way, whirled a vast mass of them in her path and she could not get through; she had at first to clear the road. Who acts: Vertodúb, Iván, piled oaks. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 23, with
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 23, sentence 25

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Vertodúb guessed Iván was fleeing from his sister, and piled oaks on the way, whirled a vast mass of them in her path and she could not get through; she had at first to clear the road.

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**Who acts:** Vertodúb, Iván, piled oaks · **What happens:** guess, flee, pile, whirl, not get through, have · **To what, where:** vast mass, path, road · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Vertodúb, Iván, piled oaks), 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:pg62509:23:25
# text = Vertodúb guessed Iván was fleeing from his sister, and piled oaks on the way, whirled a vast mass of them in her path and she could not get through; she had at first to clear the road.
1	Vertodúb	Vertodúb	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	guessed	guess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Iván	Iván	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	fleeing	flee	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
11	piled	pile	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	amod	_	_
12	oaks	oak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
17	whirled	whirl	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	vast	vast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	mass	mass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nmod	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
31	through	through	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
35	at	at	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	34	obl	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	clear	clear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guess** | past | Vertodúb |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **flee** | past · progressive | Iván |  |  |  |  | from Iván's sister | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from sister=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **pile** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **whirl** | past | piled oaks on the way | a vast mass of strings |  | Sister's path |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent mass=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **get through** | could | Vertodúb |  |  |  |  | through *property* | vn cope-83-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **have** | past | Vertodúb |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **clear** | to-infinitive | Vertodúb *not said here* | the road |  |  |  |  | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent road=Source |

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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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