---
title: He said: “That cannot be so; go and get some berries, and let me see… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: He said: “That cannot be so; go and get some berries, and let me see my child eat them.” Who acts: father, That, child. 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 85

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He said: “That cannot be so; go and get some berries, and let me see my child eat them.”

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**Who acts:** father, That, child · **What happens:** say, not be, go, get, let, see · **To what, where:** berries, father, child · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (father, That, child), 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:pg71335:6:85
# text = He said: “That cannot be so; go and get some berries, and let me see my child eat them.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	nsubj	_	_
6	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
11	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
14	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
15	berries	berry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
19	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	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 | father |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | so *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** *in a quote* | can | That |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **get** *in a quote* | infinitive | That *not said here* | some berries |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer berry=Stimulus |
| 5 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | That *not said here* | father |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **see** *in a quote* | infinitive | father *not said here* | my child |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **eat** *in a quote* | infinitive | my child *not said here* | berries *= berry* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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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