---
title: When all are ready, a man who has been selected for the purpose comm… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When all are ready, a man who has been selected for the purpose commences to sing, the others immediately join in, and at a certain note the whole of the men rise together from the ground. Who acts: all, man, others. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads., 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 45

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When all are ready, a man who has been selected for the purpose commences to sing, the others immediately join in, and at a certain note the whole of the men rise together from the ground.

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**Who acts:** all, man, others · **What happens:** be, select, commence, sing, join in, rise · **To what, where:** man, certain note

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (all, man, others), 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:pg71335:28:45
# text = When all are ready, a man who has been selected for the purpose commences to sing, the others immediately join in, and at a certain note the whole of the men rise together from the ground.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	selected	select	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	commences	commence	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
21	immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	join	join	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	note	note	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	advcl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
35	rise	rise	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
36	together	together	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
37	from	from	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | all |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **select** | present · perfect · passive |  | a man |  |  |  | for the purpose | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **commence** | present | a man |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **sing** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | a man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **join in** | present | the others |  |  |  |  | immediately *property* | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **rise** | present |  |  |  | a certain note |  | from the ground; together *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at note=Location |

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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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