---
title: While they were enjoying themselves and laughing, the bird flew away… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: While they were enjoying themselves and laughing, the bird flew away, leaving them in great dismay. Who acts: others, bird. 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 every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 64

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While they were enjoying themselves and laughing, the bird flew away, leaving them in great dismay.

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**Who acts:** others, bird · **What happens:** enjoy, laugh, fly away, leave · **To what, where:** others, great dismay

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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 (others, bird), 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:pg71335:4:64
# text = While they were enjoying themselves and laughing, the bird flew away, leaving them in great dismay.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	enjoying	enjoy	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
5	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	away	away	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	leaving	leave	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	dismay	dismay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **enjoy** | past · progressive | others *= other* | others *= other* |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer themselves=Stimulus |
| 2 | **laugh** | gerund | others *= other* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **fly away** | past | the bird |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **leave** | gerund | the bird *not said here* | others *= other* |  | great dismay |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent they=Theme in dismay=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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