---
title: Its actions attracted the notice of the men, and they said: “Surely… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Its actions attracted the notice of the men, and they said: “Surely this ox means something, why is it doing this?” Who acts: actions, ox. 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 53

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Its actions attracted the notice of the men, and they said: “Surely this ox means something, why is it doing this?”

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**Who acts:** actions, ox · **What happens:** attract, say, mean, do, act, notice · **To what, where:** notice, something, this, men · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (actions, ox), 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:pg71335:17:53
# text = Its actions attracted the notice of the men, and they said: “Surely this ox means something, why is it doing this?”
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	actions	action	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	attracted	attract	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	notice	notice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	Surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	det	_	_
17	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
19	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	conj	_	_
25	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attract** | past | ox's actions | the notice of the men |  |  |  |  | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent notice=Patient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | actions *= action* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **mean** *in a quote* | present | this ox | something |  |  |  | surely *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Topic |
| 4 | **do** *in a quote* | present · progressive | ox | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Eventuality |
| 5 | **act** |  | ox |  |  |  |  |  | nom action «act intransitive»: poss=agent |
| 6 | **notice** |  |  | the men |  |  |  |  | nom notice «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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