---
title: In the morning a mat was spread in the yard, and the young chief was… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: In the morning a mat was spread in the yard, and the young chief was asked to sit down. Who acts: young chief. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Mbulukazi., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Mbulukazi., sentence 32

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In the morning a mat was spread in the yard, and the young chief was asked to sit down.

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**Who acts:** young chief · **What happens:** spread, ask, sit down · **To what, where:** mat, young chief

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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 (young chief), 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:pg71335:17:32
# text = In the morning a mat was spread in the yard, and the young chief was asked to sit down.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	mat	mat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	down	down	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | past · passive |  | a mat |  |  | morning | in the yard | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in yard=Destination |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · passive |  | the young chief |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **sit down** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the young chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ↑ back to [The Story of Mbulukazi.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/17/)