---
title: They caught hold of it, thinking that he would pull them across; but… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They caught hold of it, thinking that he would pull them across; but when they were in the middle of the river he let go the rope, and they were all drowned. Who acts: cannibals, Ironside, river. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Ironside and His Sister., with its dep
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Ironside and His Sister., sentence 45

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They caught hold of it, thinking that he would pull them across; but when they were in the middle of the river he let go the rope, and they were all drowned.

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**Who acts:** cannibals, Ironside, river · **What happens:** catch, think, pull, be, let, go · **To what, where:** hold, cannibals, middle, river, rope

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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, Ironside, river), 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:pg71335:13:45
# text = They caught hold of it, thinking that he would pull them across; but when they were in the middle of the river he let go the rope, and they were all drowned.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	across	across	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
16	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	advmod	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
27	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux:pass	_	_
34	all	all	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	drowned	drown	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | past | cannibals *= cannibal* | hold of hold |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | gerund | cannibals *= cannibal* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **pull** | would | Ironside | cannibals *= cannibal* |  |  |  | across *property* | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | cannibals *= cannibal* |  |  | the middle |  | of the river | tree rules |
| 5 | **let** | past | Ironside | the river *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **go** | infinitive | the river *not said here* | the rope |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location rope=Theme |
| 7 | **drown** | past · passive |  | cannibals *= cannibal* |  |  |  | all *property* | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 8 | **hold** |  |  | hold |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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