---
title: His mother told him of his sister who was lost, and when he became a… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: His mother told him of his sister who was lost, and when he became a man he determined to go in search of her. Who acts: mother, chief. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Ironside and His Sister., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Ironside and His Sister., sentence 19

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His mother told him of his sister who was lost, and when he became a man he determined to go in search of her.

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**Who acts:** mother, chief · **What happens:** tell, lose, become, determine, go, search · **To what, where:** chief, sister, man, search, mother · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Ironside and His Sister.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, 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:pg71335:13:19
# text = His mother told him of his sister who was lost, and when he became a man he determined to go in search of her.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	xcomp	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	determined	determine	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	search	search	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | chief's mother |  | chief |  |  | of chief's sister | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 2 | **lose** | past · passive |  | chief's sister |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 3 | **become** | past | chief | a man |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **determine** | past | chief | a man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** | to-infinitive | chief *not said here* |  |  | search of mother |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in search=Location |
| 6 | **search** |  |  | mother |  |  |  |  | nom search «act 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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