---
title: Once upon a time there were three brothers in a family; the eldest w… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time there were three brothers in a family; the eldest was called the Ram, the second the Goat, and the third and youngest Chufíl-Fílyushka. Who acts: three brothers. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 27, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 27, sentence 119

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Once upon a time there were three brothers in a family; the eldest was called the Ram, the second the Goat, and the third and youngest Chufíl-Fílyushka.

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**Who acts:** three brothers · **What happens:** be, call · **To what, where:** eldest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (three brothers), 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:pg62509:27:119
# text = Once upon a time there were three brothers in a family; the eldest was called the Ram, the second the Goat, and the third and youngest Chufíl-Fílyushka.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Ram	Ram	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	23	amod	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	Goat	Goat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	16	conj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	27	obl	_	_
30	Chufíl	Chufíl	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	Fílyushka	Fílyushka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | three brothers in a family |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **call** | past · passive |  | the eldest |  |  |  | the Ram and the second Goat *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=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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