---
title: For this I can claim to be qualified by an intimate knowledge of the… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: For this I can claim to be qualified by an intimate knowledge of the Kaffir people, gained through intercourse with them during a period of twenty years, and while filling positions among them varying from a mission teacher to a border magistrate. Who acts: I, intimate knowledge. A sentence of «Kaff
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Opening, sentence 39

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For this I can claim to be qualified by an intimate knowledge of the Kaffir people, gained through intercourse with them during a period of twenty years, and while filling positions among them varying from a mission teacher to a border magistrate.

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**Who acts:** I, intimate knowledge · **What happens:** claim, qualify, gain, fill, vary · **To what, where:** Kaffir people, intercourse, positions

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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 (I, intimate knowledge), 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:pg71335:1:39
# text = For this I can claim to be qualified by an intimate knowledge of the Kaffir people, gained through intercourse with them during a period of twenty years, and while filling positions among them varying from a mission teacher to a border magistrate.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obl	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	claim	claim	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	qualified	qualify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	xcomp	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	intimate	intimate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	Kaffir	Kaffir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	gained	gain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
19	through	through	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	intercourse	intercourse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nmod	_	_
23	during	during	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
32	filling	fill	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
33	positions	position	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
34	among	among	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	_
36	varying	vary	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	advcl	_	_
37	from	from	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	mission	mission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	_
40	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	border	border	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	_
44	magistrate	magistrate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **claim** *speech: other* | can | I |  |  |  |  | for this | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **qualify** | to-infinitive · passive | a intimate knowledge of the Kaffir people |  |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **gain** | participle |  | the Kaffir people *not said here* |  | intercourse with PEOPLE | during a period of twenty years |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **fill** | gerund | I *not said here* | positions |  |  |  | among positions *= position* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent position=Patient |
| 5 | **vary** | gerund | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | from a mission teacher; to a border magistrate *result* | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP.patient V PP.extent PP.initial\_state PP.result»: agent=Patient from teacher=Initial\_State to magistrate=Result |

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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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