---
title: The stepmother saw that she was doing no good, so she again went to… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The stepmother saw that she was doing no good, so she again went to the old soothsayer and asked and besought her how she should destroy her stepson. Who acts: stepmother. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 28, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 28, sentence 65

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The stepmother saw that she was doing no good, so she again went to the old soothsayer and asked and besought her how she should destroy her stepson.

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**Who acts:** stepmother · **What happens:** see, do, go, ask, beseech, destroy · **To what, where:** good, old soothsayer, stepmother, stepson

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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 (stepmother), 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:pg62509:28:65
# text = The stepmother saw that she was doing no good, so she again went to the old soothsayer and asked and besought her how she should destroy her stepson.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	again	again	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	soothsayer	soothsayer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	besought	beseech	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
23	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
25	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	stepson	stepson	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the stepmother |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **do** | past · progressive | stepmother | no good |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality |
| 3 | **go** | past | stepmother |  |  | the old soothsayer | again |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to soothsayer=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | stepmother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **beseech** | past | stepmother *not said here* | stepmother |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **destroy** | should | stepmother | stepmother's stepson |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stepson=Patient |

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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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