---
title: He was sending for the midwife of the town, but the elder sisters as… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He was sending for the midwife of the town, but the elder sisters asked him why he should; they would act as midwives. Who acts: King, elder sisters, sisters. 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 58

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He was sending for the midwife of the town, but the elder sisters asked him why he should; they would act as midwives.

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**Who acts:** King, elder sisters, sisters · **What happens:** send, ask, act · **To what, where:** King

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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 (King, elder sisters, sisters), 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:pg62509:32:58
# text = He was sending for the midwife of the town, but the elder sisters asked him why he should; they would act as midwives.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	sending	send	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	midwife	midwife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	elder	elder	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	act	act	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	midwives	midwife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past · progressive | King |  |  |  |  | for the midwife of the town | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the elder sisters |  | King |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **act** | would | sisters *= sister* |  |  |  |  | as midwives | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as midwife=Attribute |

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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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