---
title: There was also a merchant, who had three daughters, and one day they… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There was also a merchant, who had three daughters, and one day they were talking to their father, and one said: “If only the King’s bread-bearer would marry me!” Who acts: merchant, daughters, one, bread bearer. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 32, with its depen
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 32, sentence 53

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There was also a merchant, who had three daughters, and one day they were talking to their father, and one said: “If only the King’s bread-bearer would marry me!”

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**Who acts:** merchant, daughters, one, bread bearer · **What happens:** be, have, talk, say, marry · **To what, where:** three daughters, me · **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 (merchant, daughters, one, bread bearer), 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:pg62509:32:53
# text = There was also a merchant, who had three daughters, and one day they were talking to their father, and one said: “If only the King’s bread-bearer would marry me!”
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	also	also	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	_
26	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
28	only	only	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	’s	's	PART	POS	_	30	case	_	_
32	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	bearer	bearer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	ccomp	_	_
37	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	36	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a merchant |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | a merchant | three daughters |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Patient |
| 3 | **talk** | past · progressive | daughters *= daughter* |  |  |  | day | to daughters's father | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to father=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **say** *speech: express* | past | one |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **marry** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | would | the King's bread bearer | me |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |

<!-- .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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