---
title: She never said a word and was always ready to weed the grass, break… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: She never said a word and was always ready to weed the grass, break off lamp-splinters, feed the cows and ducks, and whatever anybody asked for the Little Fool would bring. Who acts: two, anybody, Little Fool. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 5, with its dependenc
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 5, sentence 108

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She never said a word and was always ready to weed the grass, break off lamp-splinters, feed the cows and ducks, and whatever anybody asked for the Little Fool would bring.

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**Who acts:** two, anybody, Little Fool · **What happens:** not say, be, weed, break off, feed, ask · **To what, where:** word, grass, lamp splinters, cows, whatever · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two, anybody, Little Fool), 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:pg62509:5:110
# text = She never said a word and was always ready to weed the grass, break off lamp-splinters, feed the cows and ducks, and whatever anybody asked for the Little Fool would bring.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	9	advmod	_	_
9	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	weed	weed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
16	off	off	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	lamp	lamp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	splinters	splinter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	feed	feed	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	30	obj	_	_
29	anybody	anybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	30	nsubj	_	_
30	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
31	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	Fool	fool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* | past | two | a word |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | past | two *not said here* |  |  |  |  | always, ready *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **weed** | to-infinitive | two *not said here* | the grass |  |  |  |  | vn pit-10.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Source |
| 4 | **break off** | infinitive | two *not said here* | lamp splinters |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer splinter=Patient |
| 5 | **feed** | present | two *not said here* |  | the cows and ducks |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cow=Recipient |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | anybody | whatever |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent whatever=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **bring** | would | the Little Fool |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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