---
title: He used to sit on his flying horse, undo his cap, put his arms a-kim… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He used to sit on his flying horse, undo his cap, put his arms a-kimbo; and he seemed like a king, like the reigning king; and you looked on, and you would never have imagined that at one time he could ever have been poor Vanyúshka. Who acts: man, you. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afa
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 26, sentence 142

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He used to sit on his flying horse, undo his cap, put his arms a-kimbo; and he seemed like a king, like the reigning king; and you looked on, and you would never have imagined that at one time he could ever have been poor Vanyúshka.

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**Who acts:** man, you · **What happens:** use, sit, fly, undo, put, seem · **To what, where:** cap, arms, poor Vanyúshka

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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 (man, you), 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:pg62509:26:142
# text = He used to sit on his flying horse, undo his cap, put his arms a-kimbo; and he seemed like a king, like the reigning king; and you looked on, and you would never have imagined that at one time he could ever have been poor Vanyúshka.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	amod	_	_
8	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	undo	undo	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	cap	cap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	kimbo	kimbo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
24	like	like	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	like	like	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	reigning	reign	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	amod	_	_
31	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
36	on	on	ADP	RP	_	35	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
39	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
40	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
41	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
42	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	aux	_	_
43	imagined	imagine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
44	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
45	at	at	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	47	nummod	_	_
47	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
49	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
50	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	54	advmod	_	_
51	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	54	aux	_	_
52	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	54	cop	_	_
53	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	Vanyúshka	Vanyúshka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **sit** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on man's flying horse | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on horse=Location |
| 3 | **fly** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **undo** | infinitive | man *not said here* | man's cap |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cap=Patient |
| 5 | **put** | infinitive | man *not said here* | man's arms and a kimbo |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent arm=Goal |
| 6 | **seem** | past | man |  |  |  |  | like a king; like the reigning king | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **reign** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **look on** | past | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 9 | **not** **imagine** | would · perfect | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 10 | **is a** | could · perfect | man | poor Vanyúshka |  |  | ever; time |  | 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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