---
title: They followed still, and Sikulume was almost in their hands, when he… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They followed still, and Sikulume was almost in their hands, when he threw off his mantle. Who acts: others, Sikulume, hands. 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 70

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They followed still, and Sikulume was almost in their hands, when he threw off his mantle.

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**Who acts:** others, Sikulume, hands · **What happens:** follow, be, throw off · **To what, where:** hands, mantle

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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 (others, Sikulume, hands), 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:pg71335:9:70
# text = They followed still, and Sikulume was almost in their hands, when he threw off his mantle.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	still	still	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
6	Sikulume	Sikulume	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
8	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
16	off	off	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	mantle	mantle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | past | others *= other* |  |  |  | still |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | Sikulume |  |  | others's hands |  | others *= other* *nmod:poss*; almost *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **throw off** | past | others's hands | Sikulume's mantle |  |  |  | Sikulume *nsubj* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mantle=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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