---
title: When Vertogór saw what was happening, he seized hold of the highest… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When Vertogór saw what was happening, he seized hold of the highest mountain, piled it up on the road and stuck another on top of it. Who acts: Vertogór. 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 29

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When Vertogór saw what was happening, he seized hold of the highest mountain, piled it up on the road and stuck another on top of it.

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**Who acts:** Vertogór · **What happens:** see, happen, seize, pile up, stick, hold · **To what, where:** hold, road, another, top, highest mountain · **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 (Vertogór), 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:pg62509:23:29
# text = When Vertogór saw what was happening, he seized hold of the highest mountain, piled it up on the road and stuck another on top of it.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	Vertogór	Vertogór	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	happening	happen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	highest	high	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	14	amod	_	_
14	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	piled	pile	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	up	up	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	stuck	stick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
24	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	23	obj	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | Vertogór |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **happen** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  | what *nsubj* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **seize** | past | Vertogór | hold of the highest mountain |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme |
| 4 | **pile up** | past | Vertogór *not said here* | hold |  | the road |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme on road=Destination |
| 5 | **stick** | past | Vertogór *not said here* | another |  | top of top |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent another=Theme on top=Destination |
| 6 | **hold** |  |  | the highest mountain |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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