---
title: The bridegroom’s friends then send messengers to invite the people o… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The bridegroom’s friends then send messengers to invite the people of the neighbourhood to the feast, and as soon as these arrive the dancing commences. Who acts: friends, dancing. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads., with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 36

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The bridegroom’s friends then send messengers to invite the people of the neighbourhood to the feast, and as soon as these arrive the dancing commences.

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**Who acts:** friends, dancing · **What happens:** send, invite, arrive, commence · **To what, where:** messengers, people

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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 (friends, dancing), 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:pg71335:28:36
# text = The bridegroom’s friends then send messengers to invite the people of the neighbourhood to the feast, and as soon as these arrive the dancing commences.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bridegroom	bridegroom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	’s	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
6	send	send	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	invite	invite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	neighbourhood	neighbourhood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	as	as	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	advmod	_	_
22	as	as	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	24	obl	_	_
24	arrive	arrive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	dancing	dancing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	commences	commence	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | present | the bridegroom's friends | messengers |  |  | then |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme |
| 2 | **invite** | to-infinitive | the bridegroom's friends *not said here* |  | the people of the neighbourhood to the feast |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Recipient |
| 3 | **arrive** | present | the bridegroom's friends *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as these; soon *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **commence** | present | the dancing |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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