---
title: And this was the truth, for as soon as ever the man mentioned the De… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And this was the truth, for as soon as ever the man mentioned the Devil, the Evil Spirit appeared on the threshold, gathered up all the gold and silver plate, and threw skeleton bones down instead. Who acts: this, man, Devil, threshold. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening,
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 9, sentence 181

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And this was the truth, for as soon as ever the man mentioned the Devil, the Evil Spirit appeared on the threshold, gathered up all the gold and silver plate, and threw skeleton bones down instead.

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**Who acts:** this, man, Devil, threshold · **What happens:** be, mention, appear, gather up, throw down · **To what, where:** truth, threshold, gold, skeleton bones · **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 (this, man, Devil, threshold), 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:pg62509:9:181
# text = And this was the truth, for as soon as ever the man mentioned the Devil, the Evil Spirit appeared on the threshold, gathered up all the gold and silver plate, and threw skeleton bones down instead.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	as	as	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	13	advmod	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	mentioned	mention	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Devil	Devil	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	Evil	Evil	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	Spirit	Spirit	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	_
21	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	threshold	threshold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	gathered	gather	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl	_	_
27	up	up	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	_
28	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	30	det:predet	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	plate	plate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	parataxis	_	_
37	skeleton	skeleton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	_
38	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	_
39	down	down	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
40	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | this | the truth |  |  |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **mention** *speech: other* | past | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **appear** | past | the Devil and the Evil Spirit |  |  | the threshold |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on threshold=Location |
| 4 | **gather up** | participle | the threshold *not said here* | all gold and silver plate |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **throw down** | past |  | skeleton bones |  |  |  | down, instead *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=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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