---
title: So the King said, “This is Donotknow: I am using him as a scarecrow:… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So the King said, “This is Donotknow: I am using him as a scarecrow: he keeps the birds off my apple trees.” Who acts: King, This, Donotknow. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 29, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 29, sentence 14

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So the King said, “This is Donotknow: I am using him as a scarecrow: he keeps the birds off my apple trees.”

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**Who acts:** King, This, Donotknow · **What happens:** say, be, use, keep · **To what, where:** Donotknow, birds · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, This, Donotknow), 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:pg62509:29:14
# text = So the King said, “This is Donotknow: I am using him as a scarecrow: he keeps the birds off my apple trees.”
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	Donotknow	Donotknow	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	using	use	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	scarecrow	scarecrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	off	off	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
25	apple	apple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the King |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | This | Donotknow |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **use** *in a quote* | present · progressive | the King *= king* | Donotknow |  |  |  | as a scarecrow | vn spend\_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent he=Duration as scarecrow=Attribute |
| 4 | **keep** *in a quote* | present | Donotknow | the birds |  |  |  | off my apple trees | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Theme |

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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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