---
title: And they got their guns and were levelling them at him: but the sold… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And they got their guns and were levelling them at him: but the soldier never looked at them, never let the book drop out of his hand, and simply went on reading. Who acts: superiors, soldier, book. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 25, with its dependency tree and
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 25, sentence 30

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And they got their guns and were levelling them at him: but the soldier never looked at them, never let the book drop out of his hand, and simply went on reading.

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**Who acts:** superiors, soldier, book · **What happens:** get, levell, not look, not let, drop out, go · **To what, where:** guns, superiors, hand, reading

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (superiors, soldier, book), 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:pg62509:25:30
# text = And they got their guns and were levelling them at him: but the soldier never looked at them, never let the book drop out of his hand, and simply went on reading.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	guns	gun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	levelling	levell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	drop	drop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	xcomp	_	_
26	out	out	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	simply	simply	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	reading	reading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | superiors *= superior* | superiors's guns |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer gun=Stimulus |
| 2 | **levell** | past · progressive | superiors *= superior* *not said here* | superiors *= superior* |  |  |  | at host | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **look** | past | the soldier |  |  |  |  | at superiors *= superior* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at they=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **let** | infinitive | the soldier *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **drop out** | present | the book | soldier's hand |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Theme |
| 6 | **go** | past | superiors *= superior* *not said here* |  |  | reading |  | simply *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on reading=Location |

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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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