---
title: So they followed it, and continued going after it the whole day long… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: So they followed it, and continued going after it the whole day long, for when they were at a distance it would sit still for a little while, and when they approached it would fly away. Who acts: children, work. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Bird That Made
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 66

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So they followed it, and continued going after it the whole day long, for when they were at a distance it would sit still for a little while, and when they approached it would fly away.

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**Who acts:** children, work · **What happens:** follow, continue, go, be, sit, approach · **To what, where:** work

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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 (children, work), 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:pg71335:4:66
# text = So they followed it, and continued going after it the whole day long, for when they were at a distance it would sit still for a little while, and when they approached it would fly away.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	continued	continue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
8	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	xcomp	_	_
9	after	after	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
16	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	advcl	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
26	still	still	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	ccomp	_	_
39	away	away	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | past | children *= child* | work |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **continue** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn continue-55.3 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **go** | gerund |  |  |  |  | after work; day | long *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | at a distance | tree rules |
| 5 | **sit** | would | work |  |  |  | still; while |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **approach** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **fly away** | would | work |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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.

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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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