---
title: “Oh,” he thought to himself, “mine is a sorry lot; I spend all my da… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “Oh,” he thought to himself, “mine is a sorry lot; I spend all my days on my fields; and then, when I look, I am starving, whilst my neighbour is lying all day long on his back, and then he has a big estate and all the profits swim into his pockets. Who acts: peasant, neighbour, profits. A sentence 
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 32, sentence 141

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“Oh,” he thought to himself, “mine is a sorry lot; I spend all my days on my fields; and then, when I look, I am starving, whilst my neighbour is lying all day long on his back, and then he has a big estate and all the profits swim into his pockets.

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**Who acts:** peasant, neighbour, profits · **What happens:** think, be, spend, look, starve, lie · **To what, where:** peasant, sorry lot, fields, back, big estate, pockets · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (peasant, neighbour, profits), 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:pg62509:32:141
# text = “Oh,” he thought to himself, “mine is a sorry lot; I spend all my days on my fields; and then, when I look, I am starving, whilst my neighbour is lying all day long on his back, and then he has a big estate and all the profits swim into his pockets.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	mine	my	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	spend	spend	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
20	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	31	mark	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
37	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
38	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
40	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	_
42	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	43	det	_	_
43	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl:unmarked	_	_
44	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	41	advmod	_	_
45	on	on	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
50	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	52	advmod	_	_
51	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
53	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
54	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	estate	estate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
57	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	59	det:predet	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	profits	profit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	nsubj	_	_
60	swim	swim	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	52	conj	_	_
61	into	into	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	63	nmod:poss	_	_
63	pockets	pocket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | peasant |  | peasant |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | peasant | a sorry lot |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **spend** *in a quote* | present | peasant |  |  |  | day | on my fields *goal* | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent on field=Goal |
| 4 | **look** *in a quote* | present | peasant |  |  |  | then |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **starve** *in a quote* | present · progressive | peasant |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **lie** *in a quote* | present · progressive | my neighbour |  |  | peasant's back | day | long *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on back=Location |
| 7 | **have** *in a quote* | present | peasant | a big estate |  |  | then |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent estate=Patient |
| 8 | **swim** *in a quote* | present | all profits |  |  | peasant's pockets |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into pocket=Destination |

<!-- .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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