--- title: But the tale tells that, even when our grandfathers had not learned… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics description: But the tale tells that, even when our grandfathers had not learned their lessons and our great-great-great-great-grandfathers had not been born, in a certain kingdom, in a certain land, once there lived an old man who had taught his three sons reading and writing. Who acts: tale. A sentence of «Rus --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/26/101/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Russian Folk-Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/) / [Opening, part 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/26/) / 101 # Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 26, sentence 101 But the tale tells that, even when our grandfathers had not learned their lessons and our great-great-great-great-grandfathers had not been born, in a certain kingdom, in a certain land, once there lived an old man who had taught his three sons reading and writing. **Who acts:** tale · **What happens:** tell, not learn, not bear, live, teach, read · **To what, where:** that, grandfathers, great great great great grandfathers, certain land, old man · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tale), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg62509:26:101 # text = But the tale tells that, even when our grandfathers had not learned their lessons and our great-great-great-great-grandfathers had not been born, in a certain kingdom, in a certain land, once there lived an old man who had taught his three sons reading and writing. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 tale tale NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 tells tell VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 4 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 7 even even ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 8 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 13 advmod _ _ 9 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 10 grandfathers grandfather NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 nsubj:pass _ _ 11 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 12 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 13 advmod _ _ 13 learned learn VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 conj _ _ 14 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 lessons lesson NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 17 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 18 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 22 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 26 grandfathers grandfather NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 nsubj:pass _ _ 27 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 28 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 30 advmod _ _ 29 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 30 aux:pass _ _ 30 born bear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 13 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 32 in in ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 33 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 34 certain certain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 35 kingdom kingdom NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 37 in in ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 certain certain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 42 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 43 advmod _ _ 43 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 44 advmod _ _ 44 lived live VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 advcl _ _ 45 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 46 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obj _ _ 48 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 50 nsubj:pass _ _ 49 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 50 aux _ _ 50 taught teach VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 47 acl:relcl _ _ 51 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 54 nmod:poss _ _ 52 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 53 nummod _ _ 53 sons son NOUN NNS Number=Plur 54 compound _ _ 54 reading reading NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obj _ _ 55 and and CCONJ CC _ 56 cc _ _ 56 writing writing NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 57 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | the tale | that | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent that=Recipient | | 2 | **not** **learn** | past · perfect · passive | | our grandfathers | | | | grandfathers's lessons *obj* | tree rules | | 3 | **not** **bear** | past · perfect · passive | | our great great great great grandfathers | | a certain land | | a certain kingdom *conj* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 4 | **live** | past | | a old man | | there | | | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme man=Location | | 5 | **teach** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive | | a old man | | | | tale's sons reading and writing *obj* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient reading=Topic | | 6 | **read** | | tale | | | | | | nom reading «cognition transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 100](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/26/100/) - next →: [sentence 102](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/26/102/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/26/)