---
title: When the boys are engaged in any sport, one of the number is selecte… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When the boys are engaged in any sport, one of the number is selected by lot to tend the calves. Who acts: lot. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., 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/pg71335/32/24/)

<!-- 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 Sikulume.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/32/) / 24

# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the boys are engaged in any sport, one of the number is selected by lot to tend the calves.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** lot · **What happens:** engage, select, tend · **To what, where:** boys, sport, number, calves

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (lot), 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:pg71335:32:24
# text = When the boys are engaged in any sport, one of the number is selected by lot to tend the calves.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	sport	sport	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	appos	_	_
11	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	selected	select	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl:relcl	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	tend	tend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	calves	calf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **engage** | present · passive |  | the boys |  |  |  | in any sport *goal* | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Theme in sport=Goal |
| 2 | **select** | present · passive | lot | the number |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 3 | **tend** | to-infinitive | lot *not said here* | the calves |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent calf=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 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/32/23/)
- next →: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/32/25/)
- ↑ back to [The Story of Sikulume.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/32/)