---
title: When several are working near each other of an evening, they usually… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: When several are working near each other of an evening, they usually lighten their labours by a rude chant. Who acts: women. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Long Snake., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Long Snake., sentence 5

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When several are working near each other of an evening, they usually lighten their labours by a rude chant.

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**Who acts:** women · **What happens:** work, lighten · **To what, where:** each, labours

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Long Snake.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (women), 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:pg71335:37:5
# text = When several are working near each other of an evening, they usually lighten their labours by a rude chant.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	working	work	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
5	near	near	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	4	obl	_	_
7	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	fixed	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	lighten	lighten	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	labours	labour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
17	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	chant	chant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | present · progressive | women *= woman* *not said here* |  |  | each |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **lighten** | present | women *= woman* | women's labours |  |  |  | by a rude chant; usually *property* | vn remedy-45.7-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent labour=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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