---
title: Then it said: “I did not think you could run so fast, but let us try… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Then it said: “I did not think you could run so fast, but let us try again.” Who acts: race, you, us. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Hare., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Hare., sentence 42

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Then it said: “I did not think you could run so fast, but let us try again.”

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**Who acts:** race, you, us · **What happens:** say, not think, run, let, try · **To what, where:** us · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Hare.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (race, you, us), 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:pg71335:24:42
# text = Then it said: “I did not think you could run so fast, but let us try again.”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
18	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	again	again	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | race |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | past · do-support | race |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **run** *in a quote* | could | you |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **try** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* |  |  |  | again |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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