---
title: If they chance to be disinclined for active exercise, they amuse the… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: If they chance to be disinclined for active exercise, they amuse themselves by moulding clay into little images of cattle, or by making puzzles with strings. Who acts: boys. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 28

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If they chance to be disinclined for active exercise, they amuse themselves by moulding clay into little images of cattle, or by making puzzles with strings.

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**Who acts:** boys · **What happens:** chance, disincline, amuse, mould, make, image · **To what, where:** boys, clay, little images, puzzles, cattle

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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:pg71335:32:28
# text = If they chance to be disinclined for active exercise, they amuse themselves by moulding clay into little images of cattle, or by making puzzles with strings.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	disinclined	disincline	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	active	active	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	exercise	exercise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	amuse	amuse	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	obj	_	_
14	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	moulding	mould	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
16	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
17	into	into	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	images	image	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
25	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	conj	_	_
26	puzzles	puzzle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	strings	string	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chance** *a condition, not said to happen* |  | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **disincline** | to-infinitive · passive | boys *= boy* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for active exercise | tree rules |
| 3 | **amuse** | present | boys *= boy* | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus themselves=Experiencer |
| 4 | **mould** | gerund | boys *= boy* *not said here* | clay |  | little images of cattle |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **make** | gerund | boys *= boy* *not said here* | puzzles |  |  |  | with strings | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset puzzle=Product |
| 6 | **image** |  |  | cattle |  |  |  |  | nom image «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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