---
title: But among them was a plant to be chewed when crossing a stream, to p… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: But among them was a plant to be chewed when crossing a stream, to prevent the river spirit from biting a person. Who acts: medicines. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Simbukumbukwana., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/31/9/)

<!-- 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/) / [The Story of Simbukumbukwana.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/31/) / 9

# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Simbukumbukwana., sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But among them was a plant to be chewed when crossing a stream, to prevent the river spirit from biting a person.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** medicines · **What happens:** be, chew, cross, prevent, bite · **To what, where:** stream, river spirit, person

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Simbukumbukwana.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (medicines), 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:pg71335:31:9
# text = But among them was a plant to be chewed when crossing a stream, to prevent the river spirit from biting a person.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	among	among	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	chewed	chew	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
11	crossing	cross	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	prevent	prevent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
20	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
21	biting	bite	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | medicines *= medicine* |  |  |  |  | among a plant | tree rules |
| 2 | **chew** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V» |
| 3 | **cross** | gerund |  | a stream |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stream=Patient |
| 4 | **prevent** | to-infinitive |  | the river spirit |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer spirit=Theme |
| 5 | **bite** | gerund |  | a person |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent person=Patient |

<!-- .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 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/31/8/)
- next →: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/31/10/)
- ↑ back to [The Story of Simbukumbukwana.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/31/)