---
title: Time went by, may-be little, may-be much. — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Time went by, may-be little, may-be much. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 30, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 30, sentence 76

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Time went by, may-be little, may-be much.

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**What happens:** go by, be

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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: 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:pg62509:30:76
# text = Time went by, may-be little, may-be much.
1	Time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
2	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
8	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	cop	_	_
13	much	much	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go by** | past |  |  |  |  | time |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | may |  |  |  |  |  | little *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | may |  |  |  |  |  | much *property* | tree rules |

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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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