---
title: This can be played by two persons or any number exceeding two. — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: This can be played by two persons or any number exceeding two. Who acts: two persons, number. 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 36

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This can be played by two persons or any number exceeding two.

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**Who acts:** two persons, number · **What happens:** play, exceed · **To what, where:** This, two

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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 (two persons, number), 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:pg71335:32:36
# text = This can be played by two persons or any number exceeding two.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	played	play	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
10	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
11	exceeding	exceed	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
12	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | can · passive | two persons or any number | This |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 2 | **exceed** | gerund | any number *not said here* | two |  |  |  |  | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot two=Theme |

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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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