---
title: He used to say a _Te Deum_ to Nicholas, and burn a taper, but never… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He used to say a _Te Deum_ to Nicholas, and burn a taper, but never gave as much as a thought to the Prophet Elijah. Who acts: peasant. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 26, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 26, sentence 28

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He used to say a \_Te Deum\_ to Nicholas, and burn a taper, but never gave as much as a thought to the Prophet Elijah.

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**Who acts:** peasant · **What happens:** use, say, burn, not give · **To what, where:** \_, taper, much · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (peasant), 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:pg62509:26:28
# text = He used to say a _Te Deum_ to Nicholas, and burn a taper, but never gave as much as a thought to the Prophet Elijah.
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	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	_	_	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Te	Te	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
8	Deum	Deum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	11	punct	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Nicholas	Nicholas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	burn	burn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	taper	taper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
21	as	as	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	obj	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	Prophet	Prophet	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	Elijah	Elijah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	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 | peasant |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | peasant *not said here* | a \_ |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent \_=Topic |
| 3 | **burn** | infinitive | peasant *not said here* | a taper |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent taper=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **give** | past | peasant *not said here* | much |  |  |  | as a thought to the Prophet Elijah | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Theme |

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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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