---
title: The boys mount them when they are eighteen months or two years old,… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The boys mount them when they are eighteen months or two years old, and race about upon their backs. Who acts: boys. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 23

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The boys mount them when they are eighteen months or two years old, and race about upon their backs.

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**Who acts:** boys · **What happens:** mount, be, race · **To what, where:** signals, eighteen months, backs

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boys), 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:pg71335:32:23
# text = The boys mount them when they are eighteen months or two years old, and race about upon their backs.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	mount	mount	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	13	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	eighteen	eighteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	race	race	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
17	about	about	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mount** | present | the boys | signals *= signal* |  |  |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | present | boys *= boy* | eighteen months or two years |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **race** | present | the boys *not said here* |  |  | boys's backs |  | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon back=Trajectory |

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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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- ← previous: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/32/22/)
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- ↑ back to [The Story of Sikulume.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/32/)