---
title: When she saw them, she said: “My children, I am very sorry that you… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When she saw them, she said: “My children, I am very sorry that you are here, because I must eat people.” Who acts: mother, children, you. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children., sentence 27

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When she saw them, she said: “My children, I am very sorry that you are here, because I must eat people.”

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**Who acts:** mother, children, you · **What happens:** see, say, be, eat · **To what, where:** children, people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, children, you), 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:pg71335:15:27
# text = When she saw them, she said: “My children, I am very sorry that you are here, because I must eat people.”
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	very	very	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	parataxis	_	_
26	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | mother | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | My children |  |  |  |  | I *nsubj*; sorry *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | here *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **eat** *in a quote* | must | mother | people |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=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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