---
title: As the birds were carrying her away, she called to her mother, who t… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: As the birds were carrying her away, she called to her mother, who took no notice of her cries, because she could not imagine her child was being carried away. Who acts: birds, child, mother. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Ironside and His Sister., with its depende
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Ironside and His Sister., sentence 4

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As the birds were carrying her away, she called to her mother, who took no notice of her cries, because she could not imagine her child was being carried away.

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**Who acts:** birds, child, mother · **What happens:** carry away, call, take, not imagine, notice, cry · **To what, where:** child, mother, notice, cries · **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 (birds, child, mother), 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:pg71335:13:4
# text = As the birds were carrying her away, she called to her mother, who took no notice of her cries, because she could not imagine her child was being carried away.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	away	away	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
17	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	18	det	_	_
18	notice	notice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	cries	cry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	imagine	imagine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
31	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	parataxis	_	_
33	away	away	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry away** | past · progressive | the birds | child |  |  |  | away *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 2 | **call** | past | child |  | child's mother |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to mother=Recipient |
| 3 | **take** | past | child's mother | no notice of child's cries |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent notice=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **imagine** | could | child |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **carry away** | past · passive |  | child's child |  |  |  | away *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **notice** |  |  | child's cries |  |  |  |  | nom notice «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **cry** |  | child |  |  |  |  |  | nom cry «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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