---
title: The best narrators are almost invariably ancient dames, and the time… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The best narrators are almost invariably ancient dames, and the time chosen for story telling is always the evening. Who acts: best narrators, time. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Opening, sentence 21

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The best narrators are almost invariably ancient dames, and the time chosen for story telling is always the evening.

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**Who acts:** best narrators, time · **What happens:** be, choose · **To what, where:** ancient dames, time, evening

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (best narrators, time), 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:pg71335:1:21
# text = The best narrators are almost invariably ancient dames, and the time chosen for story telling is always the evening.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	amod	_	_
3	narrators	narrator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	dames	dame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
13	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	telling	telling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	20	advmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the best narrators | ancient dames |  |  |  | invariably *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **choose** | participle |  | the time *not said here* |  |  |  | for story telling | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for telling=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **is a** | present | the time | the evening |  |  |  | always *property* | 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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