---
title: While he was cutting a stick the monkeys threw leaves upon him. — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: While he was cutting a stick the monkeys threw leaves upon him. Who acts: pot. 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 85

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While he was cutting a stick the monkeys threw leaves upon him.

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**Who acts:** pot · **What happens:** cut, throw · **To what, where:** stick, leaves

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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 (pot), 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:pg71335:24:85
# text = While he was cutting a stick the monkeys threw leaves upon him.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	monkeys	monkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
9	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | past · progressive | pot | a stick |  |  |  | the monkeys *obj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset stick=Beneficiary monkey=Product |
| 2 | **throw** | past |  | leaves |  |  |  | upon pot | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent leaf=Theme upon he=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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