---
title: When the boy was on the road, he wept bitterly and spoke to himself:… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When the boy was on the road, he wept bitterly and spoke to himself: “Am I then the feeblest man in the world, and no maiden will really have me? Who acts: boy, maiden. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 9, sentence 115

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When the boy was on the road, he wept bitterly and spoke to himself: “Am I then the feeblest man in the world, and no maiden will really have me?

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**Who acts:** boy, maiden · **What happens:** be, weep, speak, have · **To what, where:** road, boy, feeblest man, world · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, maiden), 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:pg62509:9:115
# text = When the boy was on the road, he wept bitterly and spoke to himself: “Am I then the feeblest man in the world, and no maiden will really have me?
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	wept	weep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	bitterly	bitterly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	Am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	feeblest	feeble	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	23	amod	_	_
23	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
29	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	30	det	_	_
30	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
31	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	really	really	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
34	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | the boy |  |  | the road |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on road=Location |
| 2 | **weep** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | bitterly *property* | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | boy *not said here* |  | boy |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to himself=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | boy | the feeblest man |  | the world | then |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** *in a quote* | future | no maiden | boy |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |

<!-- .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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