---
title: The eagle wanted to smite them to death, and it might well have been… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The eagle wanted to smite them to death, and it might well have been; but, as soon as ever he struck at the drake, it dived into the water, and whenever he struck at the duck the duck dived into the water, and whatever he might do was all in vain. Who acts: eagle, Tsar, duck. A sentence of «Russian 
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 30, sentence 126

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The eagle wanted to smite them to death, and it might well have been; but, as soon as ever he struck at the drake, it dived into the water, and whenever he struck at the duck the duck dived into the water, and whatever he might do was all in vain.

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**Who acts:** eagle, Tsar, duck · **What happens:** want, smite, strike, dive, do, be · **To what, where:** horses, water, duck

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eagle, Tsar, duck), 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:pg62509:30:126
# text = The eagle wanted to smite them to death, and it might well have been; but, as soon as ever he struck at the drake, it dived into the water, and whenever he struck at the duck the duck dived into the water, and whatever he might do was all in vain.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	smite	smite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux	_	_
15	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
19	as	as	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	30	advmod	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	24	advmod	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	advcl	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	drake	drake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	dived	dive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	38	advmod	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
39	at	at	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
44	dived	dive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	acl:relcl	_	_
45	into	into	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	57	advcl	_	_
51	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
52	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	acl:relcl	_	_
54	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	cop	_	_
55	all	all	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
56	in	in	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | the eagle |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **smite** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the eagle *not said here* | horses *= horse* |  |  |  | to death *result* | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent they=Patient to death=Result |
| 3 | **strike** | past | Tsar |  |  |  | ever | at the drake | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at drake=Patient |
| 4 | **dive** | past | eagle |  |  | the water |  | soon *property* | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into water=Location |
| 5 | **strike** | past | Tsar |  |  |  |  | at the duck; whenever *property* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at duck=Patient |
| 6 | **dive** | past | the duck | the duck *not said here* |  | the water |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **do** | might | Tsar |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | whatever *advcl*; all, vain *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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