---
title: And, however old a man might be, if he only ate one apple, he would… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And, however old a man might be, if he only ate one apple, he would be young once more. Who acts: man, old. 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 6

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And, however old a man might be, if he only ate one apple, he would be young once more.

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**Who acts:** man, old · **What happens:** be, eat · **To what, where:** one apple

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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 (man, old), 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:pg62509:23:6
# text = And, however old a man might be, if he only ate one apple, he would be young once more.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	however	however	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	nsubj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	apple	apple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	cop	_	_
20	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
21	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	22	advmod	_	_
22	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | however, old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **eat** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | man | one apple |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent apple=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | would | old |  |  |  |  | man *nsubj*; young *property* | tree rules |

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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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