---
title: They said also: “The chief is not at home; you must prepare food for… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They said also: “The chief is not at home; you must prepare food for him, that when he comes in the evening he may eat.” Who acts: people, chief, you, that. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 61

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They said also: “The chief is not at home; you must prepare food for him, that when he comes in the evening he may eat.”

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**Who acts:** people, chief, you, that · **What happens:** say, not be, prepare, come, eat · **To what, where:** home, food, evening · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, chief, you, that), 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:pg71335:5:61
# text = They said also: “The chief is not at home; you must prepare food for him, that when he comes in the evening he may eat.”
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	also	also	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	prepare	prepare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
16	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nsubj	_	_
21	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | present | the chief |  |  | home |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **prepare** *in a quote* | must | you | food |  |  |  | for chief | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent food=Product for he=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **come** *in a quote* | present | that |  |  |  | evening | chief *nsubj* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **eat** *in a quote* | may | chief | the evening *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent evening=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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