---
title: Ironside said they had gone to a ford further down; but they knew th… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Ironside said they had gone to a ford further down; but they knew that was not true, so they returned home. Who acts: Ironside, companions, that. 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 47

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Ironside said they had gone to a ford further down; but they knew that was not true, so they returned home.

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**Who acts:** Ironside, companions, that · **What happens:** say, go, know, not be, return · **To what, where:** ford · **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 (Ironside, companions, that), 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:pg71335:13:47
# text = Ironside said they had gone to a ford further down; but they knew that was not true, so they returned home.
1	Ironside	ironside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ford	ford	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	further	further	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	down	down	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
23	home	home	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Ironside |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | past · perfect | companions *= companion* |  |  | a ford |  | down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to ford=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **know** | past | companions *= companion* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **is** | past | that |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **return** | past | companions *= companion* |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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