---
title: As he was going on, he saw a trap for catching birds. — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: As he was going on, he saw a trap for catching birds. Who acts: Hlakanyana, trap. 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 286

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As he was going on, he saw a trap for catching birds.

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**Who acts:** Hlakanyana, trap · **What happens:** go on, see, catch · **To what, where:** trap, birds

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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 (Hlakanyana, trap), 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:pg71335:10:286
# text = As he was going on, he saw a trap for catching birds.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	trap	trap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	catching	catch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
13	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go on** | past · progressive | Hlakanyana |  |  |  |  |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | past | Hlakanyana | a trap |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer trap=Stimulus |
| 3 | **catch** | gerund | a trap *not said here* | birds |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=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:** «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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