---
title: As many blades of grass as there are boys are taken, and a knot is m… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: As many blades of grass as there are boys are taken, and a knot is made on the end of one of them. 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 25

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As many blades of grass as there are boys are taken, and a knot is made on the end of one of them.

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**What happens:** take, make · **To what, where:** boys, knot, end

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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: 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:pg71335:32:25
# text = As many blades of grass as there are boys are taken, and a knot is made on the end of one of them.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	blades	blade	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	8	expl	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
9	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	knot	knot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	conj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nmod	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | present · passive |  | boys |  |  |  | as many blades of grass | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Theme as blade=Attribute |
| 2 | **make** | present · passive |  | a knot |  |  | on the end of one of boys |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |

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