---
title: There was once a man who had two wives, one of whom had no children,… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once a man who had two wives, one of whom had no children, and for that reason she was not loved by her husband. Who acts: man, husband. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Mbulukazi., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Mbulukazi., sentence 1

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There was once a man who had two wives, one of whom had no children, and for that reason she was not loved by her husband.

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**Who acts:** man, husband · **What happens:** be, have, not love · **To what, where:** two wives, children, reason

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Mbulukazi.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, husband), 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:pg71335:17:1
# text = There was once a man who had two wives, one of whom had no children, and for that reason she was not loved by her husband.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	appos	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nmod	_	_
14	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
15	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
16	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
21	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
22	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
24	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
25	loved	love	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl:relcl	_	_
26	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a man |  |  | there |  | that reason *nsubj*; once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | a man | two wives |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |
| 3 | **have** | past | a man *not said here* | no children |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **love** | past · passive | reason's husband | reason |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus |

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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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- ← previous: [Story of the Girl and the Mb…, 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/16/39/)
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- ↑ back to [The Story of Mbulukazi.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/17/)

