---
title: They said: “You have been dreaming; there is no one here; how can su… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They said: “You have been dreaming; there is no one here; how can such a thing be?” Who acts: boys, You, one, thing. 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 34

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They said: “You have been dreaming; there is no one here; how can such a thing be?”

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**Who acts:** boys, You, one, thing · **What happens:** say, dream, be · **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 (boys, You, one, thing), 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:pg71335:9:34
# text = They said: “You have been dreaming; there is no one here; how can such a thing be?”
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	aux	_	_
8	dreaming	dream	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	11	expl	_	_
11	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	13	det	_	_
13	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
14	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
16	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	advmod	_	_
17	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
18	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	20	det:predet	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **dream** *in a quote* | present · perfect · progressive | You |  |  |  |  |  | vn cognize-85 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **be** *in a quote* | present | no one |  |  | here; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **can** *in a quote* | can | such thing |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «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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