---
title: When the digging companies returned from digging, the people of that… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When the digging companies returned from digging, the people of that town cried for their children, for they did not know what had become of them. Who acts: digging companies, people, children. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., with i
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 67

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When the digging companies returned from digging, the people of that town cried for their children, for they did not know what had become of them.

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**Who acts:** digging companies, people, children · **What happens:** return, dig, cry, not know, become · **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 (digging companies, people, children), 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:pg71335:4:67
# text = When the digging companies returned from digging, the people of that town cried for their children, for they did not know what had become of them.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	digging	digging	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	companies	company	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
6	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	digging	dig	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
13	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
24	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	26	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	ccomp	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | the digging companies |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **dig** | gerund | the digging companies *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | the people of that town |  |  |  |  | for people's children | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for child=Recipient |
| 4 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **become** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | of children *= child*; what *nsubj* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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