---
title: The old man gave him a rolling-pin, and told him to let it roll on i… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The old man gave him a rolling-pin, and told him to let it roll on in front of him, and follow wherever it went. Who acts: old man, pin. 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 89

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The old man gave him a rolling-pin, and told him to let it roll on in front of him, and follow wherever it went.

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**Who acts:** old man, pin · **What happens:** give, tell, let, roll on, follow, go · **To what, where:** rolling pin, few, pin, front · **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 (old man, pin), 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:pg62509:32:89
# text = The old man gave him a rolling-pin, and told him to let it roll on in front of him, and follow wherever it went.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	rolling	rolling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	pin	pin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	iobj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	roll	roll	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
26	wherever	wherever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	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 | **give** | past | the old man | a rolling pin | few |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient pin=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the old man *not said here* |  | few |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **let** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the old man *not said here* | pin |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **roll on** | infinitive | pin *not said here* |  |  | front of few |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in front=Trajectory |
| 5 | **follow** | infinitive | the old man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **go** | past | pin |  |  |  |  | wherever *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «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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