---
title: The chief said: “You have acted wisely in coming to tell me; you sha… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief said: “You have acted wisely in coming to tell me; you shall have seven of the fattest of my cows. Who acts: chief, You. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 11

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The chief said: “You have acted wisely in coming to tell me; you shall have seven of the fattest of my cows.

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**Who acts:** chief, You · **What happens:** say, act, come, tell, have · **To what, where:** chief, seven · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, You), 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:pg71335:9:11
# text = The chief said: “You have acted wisely in coming to tell me; you shall have seven of the fattest of my cows.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	acted	act	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
9	wisely	wisely	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
19	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	fattest	fat	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	nmod	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **act** *in a quote* | present · perfect | You |  |  |  |  | wisely *property* | vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **come** *in a quote* | gerund | You *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | You *not said here* |  | the chief *= chief* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 5 | **have** *in a quote* | shall | you | seven of the fattest of my cows |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seven=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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