---
title: May-be long, may-be short, they at last reached a capital city, went… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: May-be long, may-be short, they at last reached a capital city, went to the King with gifts, and informed him of Donotknow. Who acts: May, foal. 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 93

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May-be long, may-be short, they at last reached a capital city, went to the King with gifts, and informed him of Donotknow.

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**Who acts:** May, foal · **What happens:** be, reach, go, inform · **To what, where:** capital city, King

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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 (May, foal), 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:pg62509:28:93
# text = May-be long, may-be short, they at last reached a capital city, went to the King with gifts, and informed him of Donotknow.
1	May	May	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
6	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
9	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	last	last	ADV	RB	_	14	obl	_	_
14	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	capital	capital	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	gifts	gift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	informed	inform	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	iobj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	Donotknow	Donotknow	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | may | May |  |  |  |  | short *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **reach** | past | foal | a capital city |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent city=Theme at last=Asset |
| 4 | **go** | past | foal *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the King; with gifts | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to king=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **inform** *speech: other* | past | May *not said here* |  | King |  |  | of Donotknow | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient PP.topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient of donotknow=Topic |

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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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