---
title: He climbed up the riem and held on to the tree; then he went up and… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He climbed up the riem and held on to the tree; then he went up and loosened the riem that was tied to his sister. Who acts: man. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Bird That Made Milk. I., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Bird That Made Milk. I., sentence 122

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He climbed up the riem and held on to the tree; then he went up and loosened the riem that was tied to his sister.

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**Who acts:** man · **What happens:** climb up, hold on, go up, loosen, tie · **To what, where:** riem

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Bird That Made Milk. I.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man), 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:pg71335:3:122
# text = He climbed up the riem and held on to the tree; then he went up and loosened the riem that was tied to his sister.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	climbed	climb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	riem	riem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	loosened	loosen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	riem	riem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **climb up** | past | man | the riem |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location riem=Theme |
| 2 | **hold on** | participle | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the tree | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **go up** | past | man |  |  |  | then |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **loosen** | past | man *not said here* | the riem |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent riem=Patient |
| 5 | **tie** | past · passive |  | the riem |  |  |  | to man's sister | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient to sister=Co-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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