---
title: There was a big tree in front of the kraal, and the mats were spread… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: There was a big tree in front of the kraal, and the mats were spread under it. Who acts: big tree. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Tangalimlibo., sentence 22

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There was a big tree in front of the kraal, and the mats were spread under it.

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**Who acts:** big tree · **What happens:** be, spread · **To what, where:** mats, tree

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (big 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:pg71335:6:22
# text = There was a big tree in front of the kraal, and the mats were spread under it.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	kraal	kraal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	mats	mat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
17	under	under	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a big tree in front of the kraal |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **spread** | past · passive |  | the mats |  | tree |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme under it=Destination |

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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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