---
title: When they reached their own home they saw no people, till at length… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When they reached their own home they saw no people, till at length an old woman crept out of a heap of ashes. Who acts: boys, old woman. 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 84

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When they reached their own home they saw no people, till at length an old woman crept out of a heap of ashes.

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**Who acts:** boys, old woman · **What happens:** reach, see, creep out · **To what, where:** own home, people, heap, length

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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, old woman), 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:pg71335:9:84
# text = When they reached their own home they saw no people, till at length an old woman crept out of a heap of ashes.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
15	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	crept	creep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
19	out	out	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	heap	heap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	ashes	ash	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past | boys *= boy* | boys's own home |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent home=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | past | boys *= boy* | no people |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer people=Stimulus |
| 3 | **creep out** | past | a old woman | a heap of ashes |  | length |  |  | tree rules |

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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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