--- title: At last he came to a gigantic oak-tree; and on the tree there was an… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics description: At last he came to a gigantic oak-tree; and on the tree there was an old man sitting, whom he asked how he was to procure the “Talking-Bird, a Singing-Tree, and the Water of Life.” Who acts: visitor, old man. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 32, with its dependenc --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/32/86/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Russian Folk-Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/) / [Opening, part 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/32/) / 86 # Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 32, sentence 86 At last he came to a gigantic oak-tree; and on the tree there was an old man sitting, whom he asked how he was to procure the “Talking-Bird, a Singing-Tree, and the Water of Life.” **Who acts:** visitor, old man · **What happens:** come, sit, ask, be · **To what, where:** last, Water · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (visitor, old man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg62509:32:86 # text = At last he came to a gigantic oak-tree; and on the tree there was an old man sitting, whom he asked how he was to procure the “Talking-Bird, a Singing-Tree, and the Water of Life.” 1 At at ADP IN _ 2 case _ _ 2 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 obl _ _ 3 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 to to ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 7 gigantic gigantic ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 8 oak oak NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 9 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ; ; PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 13 on on ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 16 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 17 expl _ _ 17 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 acl:relcl _ _ 18 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 21 sitting sit VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 20 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 23 whom whom PRON WP PronType=Rel 25 obj _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 parataxis _ _ 26 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 30 advmod _ _ 27 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 28 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 cop _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 30 procure procure VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 ccomp _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 32 “ " PUNCT `` _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 Talking talking NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 34 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 33 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 35 Bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 38 Singing singing NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 39 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 38 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 40 Tree Tree PROPN NNP Number=Sing 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 Water Water PROPN NNP Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 45 of of ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 Life Life PROPN NNP Number=Sing 44 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 21 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ” " PUNCT '' _ 15 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **come** | past | visitor | | | last | | to a gigantic oak tree; on the tree | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to tree=Initial\_Location | | 2 | **sit** | gerund | a old man *not said here* | | | | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | visitor | the Water of Life | | | | whom *obj* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent whom=Recipient clause=Topic | | 4 | **is** *not said to happen* | past | visitor | | | | | a Singing Tree *obl*; the Talking Bird *obj*; procure *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/32/85/) - next →: [sentence 87](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/32/87/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/32/)