---
title: So the sentry-guard told the Corporal, the Corporal told the Officer… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So the sentry-guard told the Corporal, the Corporal told the Officer, and the Officer told the General, and the General told the King himself. Who acts: sentry guard, Corporal, Officer, General. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 24, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 24, sentence 117

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So the sentry-guard told the Corporal, the Corporal told the Officer, and the Officer told the General, and the General told the King himself.

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**Who acts:** sentry guard, Corporal, Officer, General · **What happens:** tell · **To what, where:** Corporal, Officer, General, guard, King · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sentry guard, Corporal, Officer, General), 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:pg62509:24:117
# text = So the sentry-guard told the Corporal, the Corporal told the Officer, and the Officer told the General, and the General told the King himself.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	sentry	sentry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	guard	guard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Corporal	Corporal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Corporal	Corporal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Officer	officer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Officer	Officer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	General	General	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	General	General	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the sentry guard |  | the Corporal |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent corporal=Recipient |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the Corporal | the Corporal *not said here* | the Officer |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent officer=Recipient |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the Officer |  | the General |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent general=Recipient |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the General | guard | the King |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent king=Recipient |

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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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