---
title: Then the brave boy said to the girls: “While I am singing you must c… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the brave boy said to the girls: “While I am singing you must continue saying, ‘Tree be strong, Tree be strong!’” Who acts: brave boy, girls, Tree. 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 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 85

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Then the brave boy said to the girls: “While I am singing you must continue saying, ‘Tree be strong, Tree be strong!’”

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**Who acts:** brave boy, girls, Tree · **What happens:** say, sing, continue, be · **To what, where:** girls · **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 (brave boy, girls, Tree), 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:pg71335:4:85
# text = Then the brave boy said to the girls: “While I am singing you must continue saying, ‘Tree be strong, Tree be strong!’”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	continue	continue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
18	saying	say	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	Tree	Tree	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	cop	_	_
23	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	Tree	Tree	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	cop	_	_
27	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* | past | the brave boy |  | the girls |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to girl=Recipient |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* *in a quote* | present · progressive | the brave boy *= boy* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **continue** *in a quote* | must | the girls *= girl* |  |  |  |  |  | vn continue-55.3 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | gerund | the girls *= girl* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | infinitive | Tree |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** *in a quote* | infinitive | Tree |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |

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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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