---
title: So they then set out into the middle of the sea, and there Nikíta sl… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So they then set out into the middle of the sea, and there Nikíta slew the dragon and drowned him. Who acts: hands, Nikíta. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 32, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 32, sentence 47

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So they then set out into the middle of the sea, and there Nikíta slew the dragon and drowned him.

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**Who acts:** hands, Nikíta · **What happens:** set out, slay, drown · **To what, where:** middle, dragon

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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 (hands, Nikíta), 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:pg62509:32:47
# text = So they then set out into the middle of the sea, and there Nikíta slew the dragon and drowned him.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	out	out	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	16	expl	_	_
15	Nikíta	Nikíta	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	slew	slay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	drowned	drown	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set out** | past | hands *= hand* |  |  | the middle of the sea | then |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into middle=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **slay** | past | Nikíta | the dragon |  | there |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dragon=Patient |
| 3 | **drown** | past | Nikíta *not said here* | dragon |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

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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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