Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Tangalimlibo., sentence 76
On putting the ordinary tests to the witchfinder he failed to meet them, and when he was compelled, reluctantly, to admit that he had never held converse with the people under the water, it was easy to convince the bystanders that he was only an impostor.
Who acts: number · What happens: put, fail, not meet, compel, admit, not hold · To what, where: ordinary tests, witchfinder, witchfinders, number, bystanders, impostor · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (number), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On | on | SCONJ | _ | 2 putting | mark |
| 2 | putting | put | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 40 easy | advcl |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 tests | det |
| 4 | ordinary | ordinary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 tests | amod |
| 5 | tests | test | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 putting | obj |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 8 witchfinder | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 witchfinder | det |
| 8 | witchfinder | witchfinder | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 putting | obl |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 failed | nsubj |
| 10 | failed | fail | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 witchfinder | acl:relcl |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 meet | mark |
| 12 | meet | meet | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 failed | xcomp |
| 13 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 meet | obj |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 compelled | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 compelled | cc |
| 16 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 19 compelled | advmod |
| 17 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 compelled | nsubj |
| 18 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 compelled | aux:pass |
| 19 | compelled | compel | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 putting | parataxis |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 reluctantly | punct |
| 21 | reluctantly | reluctantly | ADV | _ | 19 compelled | advmod |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 admit | punct |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 24 admit | mark |
| 24 | admit | admit | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 compelled | conj |
| 25 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 29 held | mark |
| 26 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 held | nsubj:pass |
| 27 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 held | aux |
| 28 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 29 held | advmod |
| 29 | held | hold | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 24 admit | ccomp |
| 30 | converse | converse | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 held | xcomp |
| 31 | with | with | ADP | _ | 33 people | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 people | det |
| 33 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 converse | obl |
| 34 | under | under | ADP | _ | 36 water | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 water | det |
| 36 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 people | nmod |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 putting | punct |
| 38 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 easy | expl |
| 39 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 40 easy | cop |
| 40 | easy | easy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 41 | to | to | PART | _ | 42 convince | mark |
| 42 | convince | convince | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 40 easy | csubj |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 bystanders | det |
| 44 | bystanders | bystander | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 convince | obj |
| 45 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 50 impostor | mark |
| 46 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 50 impostor | nsubj |
| 47 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 50 impostor | cop |
| 48 | only | only | ADV | _ | 50 impostor | advmod |
| 49 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 50 impostor | det |
| 50 | impostor | impostor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 convince | xcomp |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 40 easy | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | put | gerund | the ordinary tests | to the witchfinder | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent test=Goal | ||||
| 2 | fail | past | number | the witchfinder not said here | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | not meet | to-infinitive | number not said here | witchfinders = witchfinder | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Co-Agent | ||||
| 4 | compel | past · passive | number | reluctantly property | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | ||||
| 5 | admit speech: other | to-infinitive | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 6 | not hold | past · perfect · passive | number | converse property | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 7 | is | past | easy property | tree rules | |||||
| 8 | convince | to-infinitive | the bystanders | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus bystander=Experiencer | |||||
| 9 | is a | past | number | a impostor | tree rules |
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.
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/29/76/