---
title: This time they forgot how the hours were flying by, and suddenly the… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: This time they forgot how the hours were flying by, and suddenly the witch stood in front of them. Who acts: daughter, hours, witch. 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 45

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This time they forgot how the hours were flying by, and suddenly the witch stood in front of them.

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**Who acts:** daughter, hours, witch · **What happens:** forget, not fly by, stand · **To what, where:** front

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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 (daughter, hours, witch), 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:pg62509:9:45
# text = This time they forgot how the hours were flying by, and suddenly the witch stood in front of them.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forget** | past | daughter |  |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **fly by** | past · progressive | the hours |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **stand** | past | the witch |  |  | front of daughter |  | suddenly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in front=Location |

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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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