---
title: About this time the chief was killing an ox on account of his daught… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: About this time the chief was killing an ox on account of his daughter, and so he sent a young man to the forest to get pieces of wood with which to peg out the skin. Who acts: chief. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., sentence 17

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About this time the chief was killing an ox on account of his daughter, and so he sent a young man to the forest to get pieces of wood with which to peg out the skin.

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**Who acts:** chief · **What happens:** kill, send, get, peg out, account · **To what, where:** ox, account, young man, forest, pieces, skin

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief), 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:pg71335:7:17
# text = About this time the chief was killing an ox on account of his daughter, and so he sent a young man to the forest to get pieces of wood with which to peg out the skin.
1	About	about	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	killing	kill	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
28	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	obl	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	peg	peg	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	acl:relcl	_	_
35	out	out	ADP	RP	_	34	compound:prt	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** | past · progressive | the chief | a ox |  | account of chief's daughter | time |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ox=Theme |
| 2 | **send** | past | chief | a young man |  | the forest |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent man=Theme to forest=Destination |
| 3 | **get** | to-infinitive | chief *not said here* | pieces of wood |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer piece=Stimulus |
| 4 | **peg out** | to-infinitive | chief *not said here* | the skin |  |  |  | with wood | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient PP.instrument»: agent=Agent skin=Patient with which=Instrument |
| 5 | **account** |  |  | chief's daughter |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=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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