---
title: Then the old woman met him on his way and asked, “Why are you weepin… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the old woman met him on his way and asked, “Why are you weeping, Alyósha Popóvich?” Who acts: old woman, you. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 4, sentence 90

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Then the old woman met him on his way and asked, “Why are you weeping, Alyósha Popóvich?”

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**Who acts:** old woman, you · **What happens:** meet, ask, weep · **To what, where:** Alyósha, way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old woman, you), 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:pg62509:4:90
# text = Then the old woman met him on his way and asked, “Why are you weeping, Alyósha Popóvich?”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	weeping	weep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	Alyósha	Alyósha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	Popóvich	Popóvich	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **meet** | past | the old woman | Alyósha |  | Alyósha's way | then |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the old woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **weep** *in a quote* | present · progressive | you | Alyósha |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent alyósha=Theme |

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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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