---
title: He immediately tried to catch him, but Little Jackal was quick, and… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He immediately tried to catch him, but Little Jackal was quick, and sprang away. Who acts: Lion, Little Jackal. 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 46

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He immediately tried to catch him, but Little Jackal was quick, and sprang away.

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**Who acts:** Lion, Little Jackal · **What happens:** try, catch, be, spring away · **To what, where:** Lion

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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 (Lion, Little Jackal), 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:pg71335:25:46
# text = He immediately tried to catch him, but Little Jackal was quick, and sprang away.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	Jackal	Jackal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	away	away	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | Lion |  |  |  |  | immediately *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **catch** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Lion *not said here* | Lion |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | Little Jackal |  |  |  |  | quick *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **spring away** | past | Lion *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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