---
title: But when Masilo went into the house and could not find his bird, he… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: But when Masilo went into the house and could not find his bird, he knew where the children were, but he did not tell any of their parents. Who acts: Masilo, children. 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
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 68

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But when Masilo went into the house and could not find his bird, he knew where the children were, but he did not tell any of their parents.

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**Who acts:** Masilo, children · **What happens:** go, not find, know, not be · **To what, where:** house, bird · **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, 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:pg71335:4:68
# text = But when Masilo went into the house and could not find his bird, he knew where the children were, but he did not tell any of their parents.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
3	Masilo	Masilo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	26	advmod	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
27	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	26	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Masilo |  |  | the house |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into house=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **not** **find** | could | Masilo *not said here* | Masilo's bird |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Topic |
| 3 | **know** | past | Masilo |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **not** **is** | past · do-support | the children |  |  |  |  | Masilo *nsubj*; tell *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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