---
title: They heard their aunt say, “Axe, be sharp; axe, be sharp;” and to le… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They heard their aunt say, “Axe, be sharp; axe, be sharp;” and to let her know that they were awake, they spoke of vermin biting them. Who acts: children, aunt, Axe, vermin. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderful Feather., with its dependency
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderful Feather., sentence 34

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They heard their aunt say, “Axe, be sharp; axe, be sharp;” and to let her know that they were awake, they spoke of vermin biting them.

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**Who acts:** children, aunt, Axe, vermin · **What happens:** hear, say, be, let, know, speak · **To what, where:** Axe, aunt, children · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderful Feather.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, aunt, Axe, vermin), 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:pg71335:12:34
# text = They heard their aunt say, “Axe, be sharp; axe, be sharp;” and to let her know that they were awake, they spoke of vermin biting them.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	aunt	aunt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	cop	_	_
11	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
22	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	awake	awake	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	vermin	vermin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
33	biting	bite	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	32	acl	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | children's aunt | Axe |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | infinitive | Axe *not said here* |  |  |  |  | axe *conj*; sharp *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | sharp *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **let** | to-infinitive |  | aunt |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **know** | infinitive | aunt *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | awake *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | of vermin | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **bite** | gerund | vermin *not said here* | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
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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