---
title: When he came to the river, he did not dally to think; but slipped of… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When he came to the river, he did not dally to think; but slipped off his boots, hung them on his head, and wandered at ease till he came into the middle, stumbled and fell into the water, and was heard of no more. Who acts: road. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 5, sentence 6

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When he came to the river, he did not dally to think; but slipped off his boots, hung them on his head, and wandered at ease till he came into the middle, stumbled and fell into the water, and was heard of no more.

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**Who acts:** road · **What happens:** come, not dally, think, slip off, hang, wander · **To what, where:** river, boots, head, ease, middle, water

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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 (road), 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:pg62509:5:7
# text = When he came to the river, he did not dally to think; but slipped off his boots, hung them on his head, and wandered at ease till he came into the middle, stumbled and fell into the water, and was heard of no more.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	dally	dally	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	slipped	slip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	off	off	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	boots	boot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	wandered	wander	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	ease	ease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
31	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	advcl	_	_
34	into	into	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
38	stumbled	stumble	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	acl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
41	into	into	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux:pass	_	_
47	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	50	det	_	_
50	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | road |  |  | the river |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to river=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **not** **dally** | past · do-support | road |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | road *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **slip off** | past |  | road's boots |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent boot=Patient |
| 5 | **hang** | past |  | boots *= boot* |  | road's head |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme on head=Destination |
| 6 | **wander** | past |  |  |  | ease |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at ease=Trajectory |
| 7 | **come** | past | road |  |  | the middle |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into middle=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **stumble** | participle |  | the middle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **fall** | past | road *not said here* |  |  |  |  | into the water *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into water=Result |
| 10 | **hear** | past · passive |  | no more |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: more=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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