---
title: So they went for water; but they had not reached the river when they… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: So they went for water; but they had not reached the river when they met a company of young men with a chief’s son, who was looking for a pretty girl to be his wife. Who acts: children, son. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Mbulukazi., with its dependency tree an
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Mbulukazi., sentence 20

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So they went for water; but they had not reached the river when they met a company of young men with a chief’s son, who was looking for a pretty girl to be his wife.

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**Who acts:** children, son · **What happens:** go, not reach, meet, look, be · **To what, where:** river, company, wife

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Mbulukazi.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, son), 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:pg71335:17:20
# text = So they went for water; but they had not reached the river when they met a company of young men with a chief’s son, who was looking for a pretty girl to be his wife.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	reached	reach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	’s	's	PART	POS	_	24	case	_	_
26	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	acl:relcl	_	_
31	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	pretty	pretty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	cop	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | for water | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for water=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **not** **reach** | past · perfect | children *= child* | the river |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent river=Theme |
| 3 | **meet** | past | children *= child* | a company of young men with a chief's son |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent company=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **look** | past · progressive | a chief's son |  |  |  |  | for a pretty girl | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for girl=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | man's wife |  |  |  | man *nmod:poss* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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