---
title: “Very well,” said the soldier, “I will undertake the contract; but I… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “Very well,” said the soldier, “I will undertake the contract; but I require in return to get anything my soul hankers after.” Who acts: soldier, soul. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 37, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 37, sentence 8

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“Very well,” said the soldier, “I will undertake the contract; but I require in return to get anything my soul hankers after.”

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**Who acts:** soldier, soul · **What happens:** say, undertake, require, get, hanker · **To what, where:** contract, return, anything · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 37. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (soldier, soul), 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:pg62509:37:8
# text = “Very well,” said the soldier, “I will undertake the contract; but I require in return to get anything my soul hankers after.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	undertake	undertake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	contract	contract	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	require	require	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
24	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	23	obj	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	hankers	hanker	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
28	after	after	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the soldier |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **undertake** *in a quote* | future | the soldier *= soldier* | the contract |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent contract=Eventuality |
| 3 | **require** *in a quote* | present | the soldier *= soldier* |  |  | return |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **get** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the soldier *= soldier* *not said here* | anything |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer anything=Stimulus |
| 5 | **hanker** *in a quote* | present | my soul |  |  |  |  | after *property* | vn long-32.2-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot |

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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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