---
title: They let the riem go, when the river at once went back, taking Tanga… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They let the riem go, when the river at once went back, taking Tangalimlibo with it. Who acts: people, riem, river. 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 99

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They let the riem go, when the river at once went back, taking Tangalimlibo with it.

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**Who acts:** people, riem, river · **What happens:** let, go, go back, take · **To what, where:** riem, Tangalimlibo

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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 (people, riem, river), 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:pg71335:6:99
# text = They let the riem go, when the river at once went back, taking Tangalimlibo with it.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	riem	riem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	12	obl	_	_
12	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	back	back	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
16	Tangalimlibo	Tangalimlibo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	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 | **let** | past | people | the riem |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | infinitive | the riem *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **go back** | past | the river |  |  |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **take** | gerund | the river *not said here* |  | Tangalimlibo |  |  | with river | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument tangalimlibo=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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- ↑ back to [The Story of Tangalimlibo.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/6/)