---
title: On another occasion, a Kaffir was trying to cross one of the fords o… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: On another occasion, a Kaffir was trying to cross one of the fords of a river when it was in flood. Who acts: Kaffir, failure. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/29/59/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Kaffir folk-lore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/) / [The Story of Tangalimlibo.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/29/) / 59

# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Tangalimlibo., sentence 59

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On another occasion, a Kaffir was trying to cross one of the fords of a river when it was in flood.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Kaffir, failure · **What happens:** try, cross, be · **To what, where:** occasion, one, flood

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Kaffir, failure), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg71335:29:59
# text = On another occasion, a Kaffir was trying to cross one of the fords of a river when it was in flood.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
3	occasion	occasion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Kaffir	Kaffir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	fords	ford	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	flood	flood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past · progressive | a Kaffir |  |  | another occasion |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **cross** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a Kaffir *not said here* | one of the fords of a river |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | failure |  |  | flood |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/29/58/)
- next →: [sentence 60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/29/60/)
- ↑ back to [The Story of Tangalimlibo.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/29/)