--- title: The children, up in the branches, could see a long way off; and as t… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics description: The children, up in the branches, could see a long way off; and as they strained their eyes, they observed three dogs as big as calves, and they knew these dogs belonged to their father, who was seeking for them. Who acts: children, dogs, father. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall The --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/12/50/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Kaffir folk-lore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/) / [The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderfu…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/12/) / 50 # Kaffir folk-lore, The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderful Feather., sentence 50 The children, up in the branches, could see a long way off; and as they strained their eyes, they observed three dogs as big as calves, and they knew these dogs belonged to their father, who was seeking for them. **Who acts:** children, dogs, father · **What happens:** see, strain, observe, know, belong, seek · **To what, where:** long way, eyes, three dogs · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, dogs, father), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg71335:12:50 # text = The children, up in the branches, could see a long way off; and as they strained their eyes, they observed three dogs as big as calves, and they knew these dogs belonged to their father, who was seeking for them. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 4 up up ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 5 in in ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 branches branch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 9 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 10 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 12 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ _ 14 off off ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ; ; PUNCT : _ 24 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 17 as as SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 18 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 strained strain VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 advcl _ _ 20 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 21 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 23 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 observed observe VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 parataxis _ _ 25 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 26 nummod _ _ 26 dogs dog NOUN NNS Number=Plur 24 obj _ _ 27 as as ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 28 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 xcomp _ _ 29 as as ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 calves calf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 33 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 parataxis _ _ 35 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 36 det _ _ 36 dogs dog NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 nsubj _ _ 37 belonged belong VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 ccomp _ _ 38 to to ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 40 nmod:poss _ _ 40 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 42 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 44 nsubj _ _ 43 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 44 aux _ _ 44 seeking seek VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 40 acl _ _ 45 for for ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | could | the children and the branches | a long way | | | | off *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer way=Stimulus | | 2 | **strain** | past | children *= child* | children's eyes | | | | | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent eye=Source | | 3 | **observe** | past | children *= child* | three dogs | | | | big *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent dog=Topic | | 4 | **know** | past | children *= child* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 5 | **belong** | past | this dogs | | | | | to dogs's father | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **seek** | past · progressive | dogs's father | | | | | for dogs *= dog* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent for they=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/12/49/) - next →: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/12/51/) - ↑ back to [The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderful Feather.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/12/)