---
title: Without this a survey is no more complete than, for instance, a desc… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Without this a survey is no more complete than, for instance, a description of the English people would be if no notice of English literature were taken. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Opening, sentence 17

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Without this a survey is no more complete than, for instance, a description of the English people would be if no notice of English literature were taken.

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**What happens:** be, take, describe, notice · **To what, where:** description, English people, English literature

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Opening. 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:pg71335:1:17
# text = Without this a survey is no more complete than, for instance, a description of the English people would be if no notice of English literature were taken.
1	Without	without	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	survey	survey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	no	no	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	_
8	complete	complete	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	instance	instance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	description	description	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	aux:pass	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
23	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	24	det	_	_
24	notice	notice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	literature	literature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | without this survey; than instance; complete *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** *a condition, not said to happen* | would · passive |  | a description of the English people |  |  |  | no notice of English literature *nsubj:pass* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **describe** |  |  | the English people |  |  |  |  | nom description «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 4 | **notice** |  |  | English literature |  |  |  |  | nom notice «communication 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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