---
title: But before ever she had thought, in front of her stood a table, and… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But before ever she had thought, in front of her stood a table, and on the table were dishes and drinks and refreshments: the only thing that was not there was birds’ milk. Who acts: damsel, table dishes, only thing. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 34, with its d
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 34, sentence 13

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But before ever she had thought, in front of her stood a table, and on the table were dishes and drinks and refreshments: the only thing that was not there was birds’ milk.

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**Who acts:** damsel, table dishes, only thing · **What happens:** think, stand, be, thing · **To what, where:** table, front, table dishes, milk · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (damsel, table dishes, only thing), 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:pg62509:34:13
# text = But before ever she had thought, in front of her stood a table, and on the table were dishes and drinks and refreshments: the only thing that was not there was birds’ milk.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	before	before	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
3	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	6	advmod	_	_
4	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nmod	_	_
12	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	dishes	dish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	drinks	drink	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	refreshments	refreshment	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
33	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	34	expl	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
35	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’	's	PART	POS	_	35	case	_	_
37	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past · perfect | damsel |  |  |  | ever | before *property* | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **stand** | past |  | a table |  | front of damsel |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent table=Theme in front=Destination |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | table dishes and drinks and refreshments |  |  |  | drinks *conj*; refreshments *conj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **thing** |  | table dishes and drinks and refreshments |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** | past | the only thing | birds's milk |  |  |  | birds *nmod:poss* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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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