---
title: It is said that there was once a great town in a certain place, whic… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: It is said that there was once a great town in a certain place, which had many people living in it. Who acts: great town, certain place, many people. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 3

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It is said that there was once a great town in a certain place, which had many people living in it.

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**Who acts:** great town, certain place, many people · **What happens:** say, be, have, live · **To what, where:** language, many people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (great town, certain place, many people), 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:pg71335:4:3
# text = It is said that there was once a great town in a certain place, which had many people living in it.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	10	advmod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	acl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | language |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | past | a great town in a certain place |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | past | a certain place | many people |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Patient |
| 4 | **live** | gerund | many people *not said here* |  |  | language |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in it=Location |

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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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