---
title: When her children became men, they were out hunting one day, and saw… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When her children became men, they were out hunting one day, and saw a monstrous cannibal, who was sticking fast in a mud hole. Who acts: children, monstrous cannibal. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Great Chief of the Animals., with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Great Chief of the Animals., sentence 28

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When her children became men, they were out hunting one day, and saw a monstrous cannibal, who was sticking fast in a mud hole.

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**Who acts:** children, monstrous cannibal · **What happens:** become, hunt, see, stick · **To what, where:** men, monstrous cannibal, mud hole

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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 (children, monstrous cannibal), 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:pg71335:23:28
# text = When her children became men, they were out hunting one day, and saw a monstrous cannibal, who was sticking fast in a mud hole.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
5	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	hunting	hunt	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	monstrous	monstrous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	cannibal	cannibal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	sticking	stick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	acl	_	_
23	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	22	advmod	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	_
27	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past | woman's children | men |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **hunt** | past · progressive | children *= child* |  |  |  | day |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **see** | past |  | a monstrous cannibal |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cannibal=Stimulus |
| 4 | **stick** | past · progressive | a monstrous cannibal |  |  | a mud hole |  | fast *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in hole=Destination |

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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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