---
title: Sometimes it happens that native girls are employed as nurses by Eur… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Sometimes it happens that native girls are employed as nurses by Europeans, and that little children are taught by them to sing, or rather chant the song of the cock, so that this story may even be like “an old acquaintance with a cheerful face” to many of our own race who have grown up on the front
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Tangalimlibo., sentence 2

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Sometimes it happens that native girls are employed as nurses by Europeans, and that little children are taught by them to sing, or rather chant the song of the cock, so that this story may even be like “an old acquaintance with a cheerful face” to many of our own race who have grown up on the frontier.

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**Who acts:** it, Europeans, that, girls, little children, story · **What happens:** happen, employ, child, teach, sing, chant · **To what, where:** native girls, little children, song, many, frontier · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, Europeans, that, girls), 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:pg71335:29:2
# text = Sometimes it happens that native girls are employed as nurses by Europeans, and that little children are taught by them to sing, or rather chant the song of the cock, so that this story may even be like “an old acquaintance with a cheerful face” to many of our own race who have grown up on the frontier.
1	Sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	3	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
9	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	nurses	nurse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Europeans	European	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	nsubj	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	chant	chant	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
34	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	45	mark	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	fixed	_	_
36	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	37	det	_	_
37	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
38	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
39	even	even	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
40	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	cop	_	_
41	like	like	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
42	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	acquaintance	acquaintance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
46	with	with	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	cheerful	cheerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	49	punct	_	_
51	to	to	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	obl	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
54	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
55	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	_
57	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	59	nsubj	_	_
58	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	56	acl:relcl	_	_
60	up	up	ADP	RP	_	59	compound:prt	_	_
61	on	on	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	frontier	frontier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | present | it |  |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **employ** | present · passive | Europeans | native girls |  |  |  | as nurses | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent subject=Theme as nurse=Attribute |
| 3 | **child** |  | that |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **teach** *speech: other* | present · passive | girls *= girl* | little children |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **sing** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | little children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **chant** | infinitive | girls *= girl* *not said here* | the song of the cock | many of our own race |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent song=Topic to many=Recipient |
| 7 | **is** *in a quote* | may | this story |  |  |  |  | like a old acquaintance; with a cheerful face | tree rules |
| 8 | **grow up** | present · perfect | our own race |  |  | the frontier |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on frontier=Location |
| 9 | **sing** |  | the cock |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: of=agent |
| 10 | **race** |  | our |  |  |  |  |  | nom race «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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- ↑ back to [The Story of Tangalimlibo.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/29/)