---
title: [59] “For I have sworn,” she said, “to marry him who sets me a riddl… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: [59] “For I have sworn,” she said, “to marry him who sets me a riddle I cannot solve: but if I guess it, then he must die.” Who acts: Anna, Tsarévich. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 38, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 38, sentence 31

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\[59\] “For I have sworn,” she said, “to marry him who sets me a riddle I cannot solve: but if I guess it, then he must die.”

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**Who acts:** Anna, Tsarévich · **What happens:** swear, say, marry, set, not solve, guess · **To what, where:** 59, Tsarévich, Anna, riddle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Anna, Tsarévich), 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:pg62509:38:32
# text = [59] “For I have sworn,” she said, “to marry him who sets me a riddle I cannot solve: but if I guess it, then he must die.”
1	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	59	59	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	2	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	sworn	swear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	sets	set	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
20	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	solve	solve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
29	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	guess	guess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	advcl	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
34	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	37	advmod	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	37	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swear** *in a quote* | present · perfect | Anna |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Anna | 59 |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **marry** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | Tsarévich |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 4 | **set** *in a quote* | present |  | Anna |  |  |  | who *nsubj*; a riddle *obj* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent i=Theme riddle=Destination |
| 5 | **not** **solve** *in a quote* | can | Anna | a riddle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent riddle=Topic |
| 6 | **guess** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | Anna | riddle |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 7 | **die** *in a quote* | must | Tsarévich |  |  |  | then |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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