---
title: In olden times ox-races usually took place on the closing day; but t… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: In olden times ox-races usually took place on the closing day; but this custom is now falling into neglect. Who acts: custom. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 53

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In olden times ox-races usually took place on the closing day; but this custom is now falling into neglect.

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**Who acts:** custom · **What happens:** take, fall · **To what, where:** place, neglect

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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 (custom), 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:pg71335:28:53
# text = In olden times ox-races usually took place on the closing day; but this custom is now falling into neglect.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	olden	olden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	races	race	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
7	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	closing	closing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	det	_	_
17	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
20	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
21	into	into	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	neglect	neglect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past |  | place |  |  | day; time | usually *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Theme |
| 2 | **fall** | present · progressive | this custom |  |  |  | now | into neglect *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into neglect=Result |

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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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