---
title: There was once a woman who had occasion to leave her home for a shor… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once a woman who had occasion to leave her home for a short time, and who left her children in charge of a hare. Who acts: woman, occasion. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Great Chief of the Animals., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Great Chief of the Animals., sentence 1

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There was once a woman who had occasion to leave her home for a short time, and who left her children in charge of a hare.

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**Who acts:** woman, occasion · **What happens:** be, have, leave, charge · **To what, where:** occasion, home, children, charge, hare

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Great Chief of the Animals.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, occasion), 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:pg71335:23:1
# text = There was once a woman who had occasion to leave her home for a short time, and who left her children in charge of a hare.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	occasion	occasion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
20	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	charge	charge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a woman |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | a woman | occasion |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **leave** | to-infinitive | occasion *not said here* | woman's home |  |  | time |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent home=Theme |
| 4 | **leave** | past |  | woman's children |  | charge of a hare |  | who *nsubj* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent child=Theme in charge=Location |
| 5 | **charge** |  |  | a hare |  |  |  |  | nom charge «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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