---
title: The skin of the leopard was reserved for chiefs and their principal… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The skin of the leopard was reserved for chiefs and their principal councillors alone, but any other could be used by common people. Who acts: common people. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 85

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The skin of the leopard was reserved for chiefs and their principal councillors alone, but any other could be used by common people.

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**Who acts:** common people · **What happens:** reserve, use · **To what, where:** skin, other

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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: who acts (common people), 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:pg71335:2:85
# text = The skin of the leopard was reserved for chiefs and their principal councillors alone, but any other could be used by common people.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	leopard	leopard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	reserved	reserve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	councillors	councillor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
14	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	det	_	_
18	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reserve** | past · passive |  | the skin of the leopard |  |  |  | for chiefs and skins's principal councillors; alone *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Theme for chief=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **use** | could · passive | common people | any other |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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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