---
title: Whilst I was coming here I met a gipsy on the way, and he asked me w… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Whilst I was coming here I met a gipsy on the way, and he asked me what he should do.” Who acts: I, GIPSY. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 3, sentence 152

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Whilst I was coming here I met a gipsy on the way, and he asked me what he should do.”

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**Who acts:** I, GIPSY · **What happens:** come, meet, ask, do · **To what, where:** gipsy, way, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (I, 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:pg62509:3:152
# text = Whilst I was coming here I met a gipsy on the way, and he asked me what he should do.”
1	Whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
5	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	gipsy	gipsy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
17	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	iobj	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	21	obj	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past · progressive | I |  |  | here |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **meet** | past | I | a gipsy |  | the way |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gipsy=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | GIPSY |  | me |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **do** | should | GIPSY |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

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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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