---
title: In this respect they are like the blocks of wood in the form of cube… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: In this respect they are like the blocks of wood in the form of cubes with which European children amuse themselves. Who acts: stories, European children. 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 26

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In this respect they are like the blocks of wood in the form of cubes with which European children amuse themselves.

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**Who acts:** stories, European children · **What happens:** be, amuse, form · **To what, where:** respect, stories, cubes

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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 (stories, European children), 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:pg71335:1:26
# text = In this respect they are like the blocks of wood in the form of cubes with which European children amuse themselves.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	respect	respect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	blocks	block	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	cubes	cube	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	obl	_	_
18	European	European	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
20	amuse	amuse	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
21	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | stories *= story* |  |  | this respect |  | like the blocks; of wood in the form of cubes | tree rules |
| 2 | **amuse** | present | European children | stories *= story* |  |  |  | with cubes | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus themselves=Experiencer |
| 3 | **form** |  |  | cubes |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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