---
title: The girl thought he ought not to be so long absent, for the river wa… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The girl thought he ought not to be so long absent, for the river was close by, so she went to look for him. Who acts: girl, Simbukumbukwana, river. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Simbukumbukwana., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Simbukumbukwana., sentence 41

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The girl thought he ought not to be so long absent, for the river was close by, so she went to look for him.

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**Who acts:** girl, Simbukumbukwana, river · **What happens:** think, not be, be, go, look

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Simbukumbukwana.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (girl, Simbukumbukwana, 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:pg71335:8:41
# text = The girl thought he ought not to be so long absent, for the river was close by, so she went to look for him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
5	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	cop	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	absent	absent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	parataxis	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** | ought | Simbukumbukwana |  |  |  |  | absent *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | the river |  |  |  |  | close *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** | past | girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **look** | to-infinitive | girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for Simbukumbukwana | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for he=Theme |

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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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