---
title: In attempting to make his escape from the island in a boat, he was d… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: In attempting to make his escape from the island in a boat, he was drowned. Who acts: Nkele. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., sentence 122

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In attempting to make his escape from the island in a boat, he was drowned.

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**Who acts:** Nkele · **What happens:** attempt, make, drown, escape · **To what, where:** escape, island, Nkele

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nkele), 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:pg71335:26:122
# text = In attempting to make his escape from the island in a boat, he was drowned.
1	In	in	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	attempting	attempt	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	escape	escape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	drowned	drown	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attempt** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | Nkele's escape |  | the island in a boat |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: agent=Asset escape=Product from island=Material |
| 3 | **drown** | past · passive |  | Nkele |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **escape** |  | Nkele |  |  |  |  |  | nom escape «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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