--- title: But just then a terrible enemy was besieging the capital city of tha… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics description: But just then a terrible enemy was besieging the capital city of that King, and the Cossack saw an incalculable host and array, waved his sword and said, “Self-slaying sword, serve me a service and spill the hostile host.” Who acts: terrible enemy, Cossack. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/34/120/) [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 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/34/) / 120 # Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 34, sentence 120 But just then a terrible enemy was besieging the capital city of that King, and the Cossack saw an incalculable host and array, waved his sword and said, “Self-slaying sword, serve me a service and spill the hostile host.” **Who acts:** terrible enemy, Cossack · **What happens:** besiege, see, wave, say, slay, serve · **To what, where:** capital city, incalculable host, sword, Cossack, hostile host · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (terrible enemy, Cossack), 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:pg62509:34:120 # text = But just then a terrible enemy was besieging the capital city of that King, and the Cossack saw an incalculable host and array, waved his sword and said, “Self-slaying sword, serve me a service and spill the hostile host.” 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 2 just just ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 3 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 8 advmod _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 terrible terrible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 enemy enemy NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 aux _ _ 8 besieging besiege VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 capital capital ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 city city NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 14 det _ _ 14 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 11 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 Cossack cossack NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj _ _ 19 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ _ 20 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 incalculable incalculable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 host host NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 24 array array NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 26 waved wave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 conj _ _ 27 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 30 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 32 “ " PUNCT `` _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 Self self NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 34 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 33 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 35 slaying slay VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 30 ccomp _ _ 36 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 38 serve serve VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 parataxis _ _ 39 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 obj _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 service service NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obj _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 43 spill spill VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 conj _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 45 hostile hostile ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 host host NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ” " PUNCT '' _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **besiege** | past · progressive | a terrible enemy | the capital city of that King | | | then | | tree rules | | 2 | **see** | past | the Cossack | a incalculable host and array | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer host=Stimulus | | 3 | **wave** | past | the Cossack *not said here* | Cossack's sword | | | | | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Patient | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Cossack *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **slay** *in a quote* | gerund | | sword | | | | Self *compound* | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Patient | | 6 | **serve** *in a quote* | infinitive | | the Cossack *= cossack* | | | | a service *obj* | tree rules | | 7 | **spill** *in a quote* | infinitive | | the hostile host | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location host=Theme | 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 119](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/34/119/) - next →: [sentence 121](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/34/121/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/34/)