---
title: When he entered his house, he said to his wife, “Wash all the larges… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When he entered his house, he said to his wife, “Wash all the largest beer pots which are in the house,” but his wife was angry on account of her hunger, and she answered: “What have you to put in such large pots?” Who acts: Masilo, largest beer pots, wife, house. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 37

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When he entered his house, he said to his wife, “Wash all the largest beer pots which are in the house,” but his wife was angry on account of her hunger, and she answered: “What have you to put in such large pots?”

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**Who acts:** Masilo, largest beer pots, wife, house, you · **What happens:** enter, say, wash, be, answer, have · **To what, where:** house, wife, largest beer pots, account, such large pots, hunger · **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 (Masilo, largest beer pots, wife, house), 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:pg71335:4:37
# text = When he entered his house, he said to his wife, “Wash all the largest beer pots which are in the house,” but his wife was angry on account of her hunger, and she answered: “What have you to put in such large pots?”
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	entered	enter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Wash	wash	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	parataxis	_	_
15	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	19	det:predet	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
17	largest	large	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	amod	_	_
18	beer	beer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	pots	pot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
21	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
31	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
39	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
42	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	44	obj	_	_
44	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	40	conj	_	_
45	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
50	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	pots	pot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **enter** | past | Masilo | Masilo's house |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme house=Destination |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Masilo |  | Masilo's wife |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to wife=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **wash** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | all largest beer pots |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pot=Patient |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | all largest beer pots |  |  | the house |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | Masilo's wife |  |  | account of house's hunger |  | angry *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **answer** *speech: ask* | past | house |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **have** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | What *obj* | tree rules |
| 8 | **put** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  | such large pots |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in pot=Destination |
| 9 | **account** |  |  | house's hunger |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 10 | **hunger** |  | house |  |  |  |  |  | nom hunger «state 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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