---
title: So the merchant’s son listened, and as soon as ever the dog crossed… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So the merchant’s son listened, and as soon as ever the dog crossed the threshold it was torn into small atoms. Who acts: son, dog, threshold. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 28, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 28, sentence 40

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So the merchant’s son listened, and as soon as ever the dog crossed the threshold it was torn into small atoms.

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**Who acts:** son, dog, threshold · **What happens:** listen, cross, tear · **To what, where:** threshold, dog, small atoms

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son, dog, threshold), 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:pg62509:28:40
# text = So the merchant’s son listened, and as soon as ever the dog crossed the threshold it was torn into small atoms.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’s	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	listened	listen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
9	as	as	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	14	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	crossed	cross	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	threshold	threshold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl:relcl	_	_
21	into	into	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	atoms	atom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **listen** | past | the merchant's son |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **cross** | past | the dog | the threshold |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent threshold=Patient |
| 3 | **tear** | past · passive | the threshold *not said here* | dog |  |  |  | into small atoms *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: subject=Patient into atom=Result |

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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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