---
title: Their tales are thus a counterpart of the narrators, in possessing a… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Their tales are thus a counterpart of the narrators, in possessing an adaptability to growth and a power of conformation to altered circumstances. Who acts: tales, changes. 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 33

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Their tales are thus a counterpart of the narrators, in possessing an adaptability to growth and a power of conformation to altered circumstances.

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**Who acts:** tales, changes · **What happens:** be, possess, alter, tell · **To what, where:** counterpart, adaptability · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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: who acts (tales, changes), 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:pg71335:1:33
# text = Their tales are thus a counterpart of the narrators, in possessing an adaptability to growth and a power of conformation to altered circumstances.
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	counterpart	counterpart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	narrators	narrator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	possessing	possess	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	adaptability	adaptability	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	growth	growth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	conformation	conformation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	altered	alter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	amod	_	_
24	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | changes's tales | a counterpart |  |  |  | of the narrators; thus *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **possess** | gerund | changes's tales *not said here* | a adaptability |  |  |  | to growth and a power of conformation; to altered circumstances | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot adaptability=Theme |
| 3 | **alter** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **tell** |  | changes *= change* |  |  |  |  |  | nom tale «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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