---
title: A mouse came out of the grass, and asked Sikulume where he was going… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: A mouse came out of the grass, and asked Sikulume where he was going to. Who acts: mouse. 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 111

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A mouse came out of the grass, and asked Sikulume where he was going to.

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**Who acts:** mouse · **What happens:** come out, ask, go · **To what, where:** grass, Sikulume · **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 (mouse), 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:pg71335:9:111
# text = A mouse came out of the grass, and asked Sikulume where he was going to.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
11	Sikulume	Sikulume	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	iobj	_	_
12	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	15	advmod	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	ccomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come out** | past | a mouse | the grass |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient grass=Result |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | Sikulume |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent sikulume=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **go** | past · progressive | mouse |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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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