---
title: The only way to get to their house was by means of a rope. — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The only way to get to their house was by means of a rope. Who acts: only way. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Lion and Little Jackal., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Lion and Little Jackal., sentence 11

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The only way to get to their house was by means of a rope.

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**Who acts:** only way · **What happens:** get, be

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Lion and Little Jackal.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (only way), 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:pg71335:25:11
# text = The only way to get to their house was by means of a rope.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | to-infinitive | the only way *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to children's house *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to house=Result |
| 2 | **is** | past | the only way |  |  |  |  | of a rope; mean *property* | tree rules |

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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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