---
title: When he approached they scattered some more roots upon the ground, a… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When he approached they scattered some more roots upon the ground, and while he was picking them up and eating, they fled. Who acts: cannibal, roots. 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 eve
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 81

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When he approached they scattered some more roots upon the ground, and while he was picking them up and eating, they fled.

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**Who acts:** cannibal, roots · **What happens:** approach, scatter, pick up, eat, flee · **To what, where:** more roots, ground, roots

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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 (cannibal, roots), 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:pg71335:4:81
# text = When he approached they scattered some more roots upon the ground, and while he was picking them up and eating, they fled.
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	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	scattered	scatter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
7	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	amod	_	_
8	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
9	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
14	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	picking	pick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	up	up	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	fled	flee	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **approach** | past | cannibal |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **scatter** | past | roots *= root* | some more roots |  | the ground |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent root=Theme upon ground=Destination |
| 3 | **pick up** | past · progressive | cannibal | roots *= root* |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Topic |
| 4 | **eat** | gerund | cannibal *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **flee** | past | roots *= root* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «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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