---
title: Its grandmother tried by every means to keep it from crying, but in… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Its grandmother tried by every means to keep it from crying, but in vain. Who acts: grandmother. 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 62

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Its grandmother tried by every means to keep it from crying, but in vain.

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**Who acts:** grandmother · **What happens:** try, mean, keep, cry · **To what, where:** grandmother, river

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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 (grandmother), 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:pg71335:6:62
# text = Its grandmother tried by every means to keep it from crying, but in vain.
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	tried	try	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	_
6	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | participle |  | river's grandmother *not said here* |  |  |  | by every | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **mean** | present | river's grandmother |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **keep** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | river's grandmother *not said here* | river |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **cry** *speech: express* | gerund | river's grandmother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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