---
title: While he was eating, the people of the village piled up bundles of g… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: While he was eating, the people of the village piled up bundles of grass, and the bridegroom was burned in the house. Who acts: bridegroom, village. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Long Snake., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Long Snake., sentence 30

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While he was eating, the people of the village piled up bundles of grass, and the bridegroom was burned in the house.

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**Who acts:** bridegroom, village · **What happens:** eat, pile up, burn · **To what, where:** people, bridegroom, house

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Long Snake.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bridegroom, village), 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:pg71335:18:30
# text = While he was eating, the people of the village piled up bundles of grass, and the bridegroom was burned in the house.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	piled	pile	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	amod	_	_
12	up	up	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	bundles	bundle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	appos	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	bridegroom	bridegroom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	burned	burn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past · progressive | bridegroom | the people of the village |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Patient |
| 2 | **pile up** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **burn** | past · passive | the village *not said here* | the bridegroom |  | the house |  |  | 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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