---
title: One day, when they were older, they asked the gardener to let them b… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: One day, when they were older, they asked the gardener to let them build themselves a little home behind the town. Who acts: sons. 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 72

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One day, when they were older, they asked the gardener to let them build themselves a little home behind the town.

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**Who acts:** sons · **What happens:** be, ask, let, build · **To what, where:** gardener, sons · **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 (sons), 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:pg62509:32:72
# text = One day, when they were older, they asked the gardener to let them build themselves a little home behind the town.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	gardener	gardener	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	16	obj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
21	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | sons *= son* |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | sons *= son* |  | the gardener |  | day |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent gardener=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **let** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | sons *= son* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **build** | infinitive | sons *= son* *not said here* | sons *= son* |  |  |  | a little home *obj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset themselves=Beneficiary home=Product |

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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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