---
title: One of the players takes a grain of maize, or any other small substa… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: One of the players takes a grain of maize, or any other small substance, in his hands, and pretends to place it in the hands of the others, who are seated in a circle around him. Who acts: One. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume., with its dependency tree 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 51

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One of the players takes a grain of maize, or any other small substance, in his hands, and pretends to place it in the hands of the others, who are seated in a circle around him.

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**Who acts:** One · **What happens:** take, pretend, seat · **To what, where:** grain, place, hands, others, circle

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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 (One), 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:pg71335:32:51
# text = One of the players takes a grain of maize, or any other small substance, in his hands, and pretends to place it in the hands of the others, who are seated in a circle around him.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	players	player	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	takes	take	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	maize	maize	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
13	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	substance	substance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	pretends	pretend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	xcomp	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
34	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	seated	seat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	acl:relcl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	around	around	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | present | One of the players | a grain of maize |  |  |  | any other small substance and Iceya's hands *obl* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grain=Theme |
| 2 | **pretend** | present | One of the players *not said here* | place |  | the hands of the others |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **seat** | present · passive |  | the others |  | a circle around Iceya |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Value in circle=Location |

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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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