---
title: It is as if one said, Give food to the traveller, because when you a… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: It is as if one said, Give food to the traveller, because when you are on a journey your foot will not be able to smell out and avoid a man whom you have turned from your door, but to your shame it may carry you to his. Who acts: It, you, foot, exhortation. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., sentence 187

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It is as if one said, Give food to the traveller, because when you are on a journey your foot will not be able to smell out and avoid a man whom you have turned from your door, but to your shame it may carry you to his.

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**Who acts:** It, you, foot, exhortation, your · **What happens:** be, give, not be, smell out, avoid, turn · **To what, where:** food, traveller, journey, man, door, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (It, you, foot, exhortation), 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:pg71335:26:187
# text = It is as if one said, Give food to the traveller, because when you are on a journey your foot will not be able to smell out and avoid a man whom you have turned from your door, but to your shame it may carry you to his.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	Give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
9	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	traveller	traveller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
14	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
17	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
21	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
23	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
24	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	cop	_	_
26	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	acl:relcl	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	smell	smell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	out	out	ADP	RP	_	28	compound:prt	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	37	obj	_	_
35	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	33	acl:relcl	_	_
38	from	from	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
42	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
43	to	to	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	shame	shame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
46	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
49	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *speech: assert* | present | It |  |  |  |  | one *nsubj*; say *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | infinitive |  | food | the traveller |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent food=Theme to traveller=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | present | you |  |  | a journey |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **is** | future | your foot | a journey *not said here* |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **smell out** | to-infinitive | your foot *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn smell\_emission-43.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **avoid** | infinitive | your foot *not said here* | a man |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent man=Location |
| 7 | **turn** | present · perfect | you | a man |  | your door |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent whom=Theme from door=Trajectory |
| 8 | **carry** | may | exhortation |  | you |  |  | to your shame; man *obj* | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Theme you=Beneficiary his=Value |
| 9 | **shame** |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom shame «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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