---
title: He replied: “My eyes have been taken away by the crows.” — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He replied: “My eyes have been taken away by the crows.” Who acts: Kenkebe, crows. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Another Story of Kenkebe., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Another Story of Kenkebe., sentence 6

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He replied: “My eyes have been taken away by the crows.”

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**Who acts:** Kenkebe, crows · **What happens:** reply, take away · **To what, where:** eyes · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Another Story of Kenkebe.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Kenkebe, crows), 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:pg71335:20:6
# text = He replied: “My eyes have been taken away by the crows.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
10	away	away	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Kenkebe |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **take away** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive | the crows | My eyes |  |  |  | away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

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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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