---
title: One of the young men picked up this stone, saying: “If I could see h… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: One of the young men picked up this stone, saying: “If I could see him, I would just throw this stone at him.” Who acts: young men, One. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Hlakanyana., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Hlakanyana., sentence 180

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One of the young men picked up this stone, saying: “If I could see him, I would just throw this stone at him.”

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**Who acts:** young men, One · **What happens:** pick up, say, see, throw · **To what, where:** stone, fellow · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Hlakanyana.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (young men, One), 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:pg71335:10:180
# text = One of the young men picked up this stone, saying: “If I could see him, I would just throw this stone at him.”
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
6	picked	pick	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
9	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	just	just	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
24	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	det	_	_
25	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick up** | participle | the young men *not said here* | this stone |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V PP.topic S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | One of the young men |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **see** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | could | One of the young men *= One* | fellow |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 4 | **throw** *in a quote* | would | One of the young men *= One* | this stone |  |  |  | at fellow | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent stone=Theme at he=Destination |

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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:** «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Project Gutenberg book 71335 (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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