---
title: They were fine children; you could _see_ them growing up, not by yea… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They were fine children; you could _see_ them growing up, not by years, but months, not by days, but by hours. Who acts: children, you. 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 69

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They were fine children; you could \_see\_ them growing up, not by years, but months, not by days, but by hours.

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**Who acts:** children, you · **What happens:** be, see, grow up · **To what, where:** fine children

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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 (children, you), 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:pg62509:32:69
# text = They were fine children; you could _see_ them growing up, not by years, but months, not by days, but by hours.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	_	_	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	12	punct	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	xcomp	_	_
13	up	up	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | children *= child* | fine children |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | could | you | fine children *not said here* |  |  | day; hour; month |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **grow up** | gerund | children *= child* |  |  |  | year |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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