---
title: These two were told to hide themselves and listen while the other cu… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: These two were told to hide themselves and listen while the other cut the sticks. Who acts: two, other. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., sentence 21

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These two were told to hide themselves and listen while the other cut the sticks.

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**Who acts:** two, other · **What happens:** tell, hide, listen, cut · **To what, where:** two, father, sticks · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (two, other), 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:pg71335:7:21
# text = These two were told to hide themselves and listen while the other cut the sticks.
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	hide	hide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
10	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	nsubj	_	_
13	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | this two |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **hide** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | this two *not said here* | father |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient |
| 3 | **listen** | infinitive | this two *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **cut** | past | the other | the sticks |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset stick=Product |

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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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