---
title: They prevent us from getting red clay from the pit, and they do not… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They prevent us from getting red clay from the pit, and they do not use it. Who acts: mist. 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 153

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They prevent us from getting red clay from the pit, and they do not use it.

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**Who acts:** mist · **What happens:** prevent, get, not use · **To what, where:** us, red clay, pit, clay

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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 (mist), 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:pg71335:26:153
# text = They prevent us from getting red clay from the pit, and they do not use it.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	prevent	prevent	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
6	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prevent** | present | mist | us |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer we=Theme |
| 2 | **get** | gerund | mist *not said here* | red clay |  | the pit |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent clay=Theme from pit=Source |
| 3 | **not** **use** | present · do-support | mist | clay |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

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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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