---
title: But old men have told me, when I inquired the object of this act, th… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: But old men have told me, when I inquired the object of this act, that “it was for Qamata.” Who acts: I, that. 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 169

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But old men have told me, when I inquired the object of this act, that “it was for Qamata.”

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**Who acts:** I, that · **What happens:** tell, inquire, be · **To what, where:** old men, me, object · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (I, that), 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:pg71335:2:169
# text = But old men have told me, when I inquired the object of this act, that “it was for Qamata.”
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	inquired	inquire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	object	object	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	det	_	_
15	act	act	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	nsubj	_	_
18	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Qamata	Qamata	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · perfect · passive |  | old men | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient i=Topic |
| 2 | **inquire** *speech: other* | past | I | the object of this act |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent object=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past | that |  |  |  |  | for Qamata; object *nsubj* | 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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