---
title: Once upon a time a brother and sister, who were twins and orphans, w… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time a brother and sister, who were twins and orphans, were obliged on account of ill usage to run away from their relatives. Who acts: brother. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Demane and Demazana., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Demane and Demazana., sentence 1

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Once upon a time a brother and sister, who were twins and orphans, were obliged on account of ill usage to run away from their relatives.

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**Who acts:** brother · **What happens:** be, oblige, run away, account · **To what, where:** twins, account, relatives, ill usage

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Demane and Demazana.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brother), 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:pg71335:11:1
# text = Once upon a time a brother and sister, who were twins and orphans, were obliged on account of ill usage to run away from their relatives.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	17	advmod	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	twins	twin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	appos	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	orphans	orphan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	usage	usage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
25	away	away	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	from	from	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	relatives	relative	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	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 | **is a** | past | a brother and sister | twins and orphans |  |  |  | orphans *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **oblige** | past · passive |  |  |  | account of ill usage |  | once *property* | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP» |
| 3 | **run away** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | orphans's relatives |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from relative=Trajectory |
| 4 | **account** |  |  | ill usage |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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