---
title: Once upon a time there was a soldier who had served through three ca… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time there was a soldier who had served through three campaigns, but had never earned as much as an addled egg, and was then put on the retired list. Who acts: soldier. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 36, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 36, sentence 182

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Once upon a time there was a soldier who had served through three campaigns, but had never earned as much as an addled egg, and was then put on the retired list.

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**Who acts:** soldier · **What happens:** be, serve, not earn, addle, put · **To what, where:** three campaigns, much, retired list

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (soldier), 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:pg62509:36:182
# text = Once upon a time there was a soldier who had served through three campaigns, but had never earned as much as an addled egg, and was then put on the retired list.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
12	through	through	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	campaigns	campaign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	earned	earn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
20	as	as	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	obj	_	_
22	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	addled	addle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	amod	_	_
25	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
29	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
30	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	retired	retired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	list	list	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a soldier |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **serve** | past · perfect | a soldier |  |  | three campaigns |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **earn** | past · perfect | a soldier *not said here* | much |  |  |  | as a addled egg | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Theme |
| 4 | **addle** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **put** | past · passive | a soldier *not said here* |  |  | the retired list | then |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: on list=Destination |

<!-- .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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