---
title: He had an iron rod in his hand, with which he struck the water, and… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He had an iron rod in his hand, with which he struck the water, and at the same time he called out with a loud voice: “River, I have no sister. Who acts: 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 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Ironside and His Sister., sentence 21

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He had an iron rod in his hand, with which he struck the water, and at the same time he called out with a loud voice: “River, I have no sister.

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**Who acts:** chief · **What happens:** have, strike, call out · **To what, where:** iron rod, hand, water, sister · **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 (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:pg71335:13:21
# text = He had an iron rod in his hand, with which he struck the water, and at the same time he called out with a loud voice: “River, I have no sister.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	rod	rod	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obl	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
24	out	out	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
30	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	River	River	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
35	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	36	det	_	_
36	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | chief | a iron rod |  | chief's hand |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rod=Patient |
| 2 | **strike** | past | chief | the water |  |  |  | which *obl* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent water=Patient with which=Instrument |
| 3 | **call out** *speech: assert* | past | chief |  |  |  | time | with a loud voice | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **have** *in a quote* | present | chief | no sister |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sister=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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