---
title: He told his master that two little birds had fluttered on to his est… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He told his master that two little birds had fluttered on to his estate; two fairest damsels similar in form and shape, eye for eye and line for line. Who acts: forest. 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 75

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He told his master that two little birds had fluttered on to his estate; two fairest damsels similar in form and shape, eye for eye and line for line.

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**Who acts:** forest · **What happens:** tell, flutter · **To what, where:** master, two little birds, estate · **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 (forest), 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:pg62509:9:75
# text = He told his master that two little birds had fluttered on to his estate; two fairest damsels similar in form and shape, eye for eye and line for line.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obj	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	fluttered	flutter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	estate	estate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	nummod	_	_
17	fairest	fair	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	18	amod	_	_
18	damsels	damsel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	similar	similar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	line	line	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	line	line	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | forest | forest's master |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent master=Recipient |
| 2 | **flutter** | past · perfect · passive |  | two little birds |  | forest's estate |  | forest's master *obj* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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