---
title: The chief asked of them also advice, saying: “What shall I do?” — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief asked of them also advice, saying: “What shall I do?” Who acts: chief. 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 37

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The chief asked of them also advice, saying: “What shall I do?”

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**Who acts:** chief · **What happens:** ask, say, do · **To what, where:** advice · **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 (chief), 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:pg71335:10:37
# text = The chief asked of them also advice, saying: “What shall I do?”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	also	also	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	advice	advice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	obj	_	_
13	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the chief | advice |  |  |  | of men *= man* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent of they=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | gerund | the chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** *in a quote* | shall | the chief *= chief* |  |  |  |  | What *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

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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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