---
title: The iguana took that rush and threw it across the river, saying: “If… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The iguana took that rush and threw it across the river, saying: “If I could only see him, I would throw him like this.” Who acts: iguana. 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 338

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The iguana took that rush and threw it across the river, saying: “If I could only see him, I would throw him like this.”

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**Who acts:** iguana · **What happens:** take, throw, say, see · **To what, where:** rush, river, iguana · **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 (iguana), 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:pg71335:10:338
# text = The iguana took that rush and threw it across the river, saying: “If I could only see him, I would throw him like this.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	iguana	iguana	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	rush	rush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	across	across	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	only	only	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	like	like	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | the iguana | that rush |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent rush=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **throw** | past | the iguana *not said here* | rush |  | the river |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the iguana *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **see** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | could | the iguana *= iguana* | iguana |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 5 | **throw** *in a quote* | would | the iguana *= iguana* | iguana |  |  |  | like this | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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