---
title: The father of a young man frequently selects a bride for him, and in… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The father of a young man frequently selects a bride for him, and intimates his wish by sending a messenger to make proposals to the girl’s father or guardian. Who acts: father, guardian. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads., with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 26

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The father of a young man frequently selects a bride for him, and intimates his wish by sending a messenger to make proposals to the girl’s father or guardian.

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**Who acts:** father, guardian · **What happens:** select, intimate, send, make, wish · **To what, where:** bride, wish, messenger, proposals

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, guardian), 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:pg71335:28:26
# text = The father of a young man frequently selects a bride for him, and intimates his wish by sending a messenger to make proposals to the girl’s father or guardian.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
7	frequently	frequently	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	selects	select	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bride	bride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	intimates	intimate	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	sending	send	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
24	proposals	proposal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’s	's	PART	POS	_	27	case	_	_
29	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
30	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	guardian	guardian	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **select** | present | the father of a young man | a bride |  |  |  | for guardian; frequently *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bride=Theme |
| 2 | **intimate** *speech: other* | present | the father of a young man *not said here* | guardian's wish |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent wish=Topic |
| 3 | **send** | gerund | the father of a young man *not said here* | a messenger |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme |
| 4 | **make** | to-infinitive | the father of a young man *not said here* | proposals |  |  |  | to the girl's father or guardian | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset proposal=Product |
| 5 | **wish** |  | guardian |  |  |  |  |  | nom wish «feeling 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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