---
title: The cannibal said he would go if they would promise not to open his… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The cannibal said he would go if they would promise not to open his bag while he was away. Who acts: cannibal, men. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird., sentence 30

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The cannibal said he would go if they would promise not to open his bag while he was away.

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**Who acts:** cannibal, men · **What happens:** say, go, promise, not open, be · **To what, where:** bag · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cannibal, men), 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:pg71335:14:30
# text = The cannibal said he would go if they would promise not to open his bag while he was away.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cannibal	cannibal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	promise	promise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	away	away	ADV	RB	_	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 | the cannibal |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | would | cannibal |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **promise** *speech: promise* *a condition, not said to happen* | would | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **open** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | cannibal's bag |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bag=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | cannibal |  |  |  |  | away *property* | tree rules |

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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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