---
title: “What do you want all these tubs and pails for?” they asked him. — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “What do you want all these tubs and pails for?” they asked him. Who acts: peasant, tubs. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 35, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 35, sentence 54

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“What do you want all these tubs and pails for?” they asked him.

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**Who acts:** peasant, tubs · **What happens:** want, ask · **To what, where:** tubs, peasant · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (peasant, tubs), 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:pg62509:35:54
# text = “What do you want all these tubs and pails for?” they asked him.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
3	do	do	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	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
6	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	8	det:predet	_	_
7	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	tubs	tub	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	pails	pail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** *in a quote* | present · do-support | peasant | all tubs and pails |  |  |  | What *obj* | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme tub=Attribute |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | tubs *= tub* |  | peasant |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |

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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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