---
title: They preserved it from the attacks of the weevil by storing it in ai… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They preserved it from the attacks of the weevil by storing it in air-tight holes excavated beneath the cattle kraals. Who acts: species. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 122

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They preserved it from the attacks of the weevil by storing it in air-tight holes excavated beneath the cattle kraals.

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**Who acts:** species · **What happens:** preserve, store, excavate, attack · **To what, where:** stock, air tight holes, cattle kraals, weevil

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (species), 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:pg71335:2:122
# text = They preserved it from the attacks of the weevil by storing it in air-tight holes excavated beneath the cattle kraals.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	preserved	preserve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	attacks	attack	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	weevil	weevil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	storing	store	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	tight	tight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
18	excavated	excavate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
19	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	cattle	cattle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	kraals	kraal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **preserve** | past | species | stock |  |  |  | from the attacks of the weevil | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary from attack=Theme |
| 2 | **store** | gerund | species *not said here* | stock |  | air tight holes |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme in hole=Location |
| 3 | **excavate** | participle |  | air tight holes *not said here* |  | the cattle kraals |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent beneath kraal=Location |
| 4 | **attack** |  |  | the weevil |  |  |  |  | nom attack «act 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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