---
title: “Why are you making a vain quest?” the Tsars and Tsarévichi, the Kin… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “Why are you making a vain quest?” the Tsars and Tsarévichi, the Kings and Korolévichi answered; “this would be an unguestly act. Who acts: you, Tsars, this. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 33, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 33, sentence 91

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“Why are you making a vain quest?” the Tsars and Tsarévichi, the Kings and Korolévichi answered; “this would be an unguestly act.

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**Who acts:** you, Tsars, this · **What happens:** make, answer, be · **To what, where:** vain quest, unguestly act · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, Tsars, this), 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:pg62509:33:91
# text = “Why are you making a vain quest?” the Tsars and Tsarévichi, the Kings and Korolévichi answered; “this would be an unguestly act.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	quest	quest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Tsars	Tsar	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	Tsarévichi	Tsarévichi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Kings	King	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	14	appos	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	Korolévichi	Korolévichi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
20	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
22	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	cop	_	_
26	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	unguestly	unguestly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	act	act	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** *in a quote* | present · progressive | you | a vain quest |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: ask* | past | the Tsars and Tsarévichi and Korolévichi |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | would | this | a unguestly act |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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