---
title: His sister compelled him to sit down; but as soon as they went on, h… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: His sister compelled him to sit down; but as soon as they went on, he followed; then his sister beat him, and left him in the path. Who acts: sister, legs, husband. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Simbukumbukwana., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/8/59/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Kaffir folk-lore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/) / [The Story of Simbukumbukwana.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/8/) / 59

# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Simbukumbukwana., sentence 59

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His sister compelled him to sit down; but as soon as they went on, he followed; then his sister beat him, and left him in the path.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sister, legs, husband · **What happens:** compel, sit down, go on, follow, beat, leave · **To what, where:** husband, path

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (sister, legs, husband), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg71335:8:59
# text = His sister compelled him to sit down; but as soon as they went on, he followed; then his sister beat him, and left him in the path.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	compelled	compel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
7	down	down	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
10	as	as	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
15	on	on	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	beat	beat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **compel** | past | husband's sister | husband |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Patient clause=Result |
| 2 | **sit down** | to-infinitive | husband's sister *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **go on** | past | legs *= leg* |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **follow** | past | husband |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **beat** | past | husband's sister | husband |  |  | then |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=Theme |
| 6 | **leave** | past | husband's sister *not said here* | husband |  | the path |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Theme in path=Location |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/8/58/)
- next →: [sentence 60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/8/60/)
- ↑ back to [The Story of Simbukumbukwana.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/8/)