---
title: The spectators then applaud the best dancer, or if they do not at on… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The spectators then applaud the best dancer, or if they do not at once unanimously fix upon the same person, the girls dance until all present agree. Who acts: spectators, girls. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., with 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/30/16/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Kaffir folk-lore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/) / [Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/30/) / 16

# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The spectators then applaud the best dancer, or if they do not at once unanimously fix upon the same person, the girls dance until all present agree.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** spectators, girls · **What happens:** applaud, not do, fix, dance · **To what, where:** best dancer

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (spectators, girls), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg71335:30:16
# text = The spectators then applaud the best dancer, or if they do not at once unanimously fix upon the same person, the girls dance until all present agree.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	spectators	spectator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	applaud	applaud	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	dancer	dancer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	17	obl	_	_
16	unanimously	unanimously	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	fix	fix	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
18	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
25	dance	dance	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
26	until	until	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	29	det	_	_
28	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	agree	agree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **applaud** | present | the spectators | the best dancer |  |  | then |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer dancer=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **do** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | spectators *= spectator* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **fix** | infinitive | the spectators *not said here* |  |  |  |  | upon the same person; unanimously *property* | vn price-54.4 «NP V NP PP.value»: agent=Agent at once=Value |
| 4 | **dance** | present | the girls |  |  |  | until all present agree |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/30/15/)
- next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/30/17/)
- ↑ back to [Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/30/)