---
title: So they arranged that he should smear himself with mud and go to the… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: So they arranged that he should smear himself with mud and go to the top of a high hill, and when he was coming down she would tell the cannibals who he was. Who acts: cannibals, river, sister. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Ironside and His Sister., with its depen
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Ironside and His Sister., sentence 28

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So they arranged that he should smear himself with mud and go to the top of a high hill, and when he was coming down she would tell the cannibals who he was.

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**Who acts:** cannibals, river, sister · **What happens:** arrange, smear, go, come down, tell · **To what, where:** river, top, cannibals · **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 (cannibals, river, sister), 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:pg71335:13:28
# text = So they arranged that he should smear himself with mud and go to the top of a high hill, and when he was coming down she would tell the cannibals who he was.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	arranged	arrange	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	smear	smear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
8	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
26	down	down	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	parataxis	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	cannibals	cannibal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
32	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrange** | past | cannibals *= cannibal* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **smear** | should | river | river |  |  |  | with mud | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent himself=Destination with mud=Theme |
| 3 | **go** | infinitive | river *not said here* |  |  | the top of a high hill |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to top=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **come down** | past · progressive | river |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | would | sister | the cannibals |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent cannibal=Recipient |

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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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