---
title: Then he sent his father a letter in this wise: “Do you cure my stepm… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he sent his father a letter in this wise: “Do you cure my stepmother with a twelve-tongued whip—this is the best means of curing her illness.” Who acts: son, you, this. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 28, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 28, sentence 80

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Then he sent his father a letter in this wise: “Do you cure my stepmother with a twelve-tongued whip—this is the best means of curing her illness.”

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**Who acts:** son, you, this · **What happens:** send, cure, be · **To what, where:** father, wise, stepmother, illness · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, you, this), 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:pg62509:28:80
# text = Then he sent his father a letter in this wise: “Do you cure my stepmother with a twelve-tongued whip—this is the best means of curing her illness.”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	nsubj	_	_
10	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	cure	cure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
16	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
20	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	tongued	tongued	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	whip	whip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	nsubj	_	_
26	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	29	nsubj	_	_
29	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
30	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
31	curing	cure	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	advcl	_	_
32	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	illness	illness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | son | son's father |  | wise  this | then | a letter *obj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **cure** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you | my stepmother |  |  |  | with a tongued whip | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer stepmother=Source |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | this |  |  |  |  | mean *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **cure** *in a quote* | gerund | this *not said here* | stepmother's illness |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer illness=Source |

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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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