---
title: Skins for clothing are prepared by rubbing them for a length of time… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Skins for clothing are prepared by rubbing them for a length of time with grease, by which means they are made nearly as soft and pliable as cloth. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 225

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Skins for clothing are prepared by rubbing them for a length of time with grease, by which means they are made nearly as soft and pliable as cloth.

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**What happens:** prepare, rub, mean, make · **To what, where:** Skins · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg71335:2:225
# text = Skins for clothing are prepared by rubbing them for a length of time with grease, by which means they are made nearly as soft and pliable as cloth.
1	Skins	skin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	for	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	clothing	clothing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	prepared	prepare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	rubbing	rub	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	grease	grease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	ccomp	_	_
23	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	xcomp	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	pliable	pliable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prepare** | present · passive |  | Skins for clothing |  |  |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **rub** | gerund |  | skins *= skin* |  |  |  | for a length of time with grease | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 3 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  | which *nsubj* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **make** | present · passive |  | skins *= skin* |  |  |  | soft *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

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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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