---
title: In a certain kingdom, in a certain land, there was a gipsy who had a… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: In a certain kingdom, in a certain land, there was a gipsy who had a wife and seven children, and he lived so poorly that at last there was nothing in the house to eat or to drink—not even a crust of bread. Who acts: gipsy. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 3, with
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 3, sentence 120

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In a certain kingdom, in a certain land, there was a gipsy who had a wife and seven children, and he lived so poorly that at last there was nothing in the house to eat or to drink—not even a crust of bread.

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**Who acts:** gipsy · **What happens:** have, be, eat, drink · **To what, where:** wife, crust

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (gipsy), 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:pg62509:3:120
# text = In a certain kingdom, in a certain land, there was a gipsy who had a wife and seven children, and he lived so poorly that at last there was nothing in the house to eat or to drink—not even a crust of bread.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	gipsy	gipsy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	poorly	poorly	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	_
31	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	32	expl	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
33	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	32	nsubj	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	acl	_	_
39	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
44	even	even	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	crust	crust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | a gipsy | a wife and seven children |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past | GIPSY |  |  |  |  | live, poorly *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | GIPSY *not said here* |  |  |  |  | last *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **eat** | to-infinitive | GIPSY *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **drink** | to-infinitive | GIPSY *not said here* | a crust of bread |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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