---
title: In olden times, when common people died, their corpses were dragged… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: In olden times, when common people died, their corpses were dragged away to a short distance from the kraal, and there left to be devoured by beasts of prey; but chiefs and great men were interred with much ceremony. Who acts: common people, beasts. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 135

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In olden times, when common people died, their corpses were dragged away to a short distance from the kraal, and there left to be devoured by beasts of prey; but chiefs and great men were interred with much ceremony.

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**Who acts:** common people, beasts · **What happens:** die, drag away, leave, devour, inter · **To what, where:** corpses, chiefs

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (common people, beasts), 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:pg71335:2:135
# text = In olden times, when common people died, their corpses were dragged away to a short distance from the kraal, and there left to be devoured by beasts of prey; but chiefs and great men were interred with much ceremony.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	olden	olden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	8	mark	_	_
6	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	corpses	corpse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	dragged	drag	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
14	away	away	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
19	from	from	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	kraal	kraal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	25	advmod	_	_
25	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
27	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	devoured	devour	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	xcomp	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl:agent	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
34	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
35	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	conj	_	_
39	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	interred	inter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	ceremony	ceremony	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | past | common people |  |  |  | time |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **drag away** | past · passive |  | people's corpses |  |  |  | to a short distance from the kraal; away *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to distance=Destination |
| 3 | **leave** | participle |  |  |  | there |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **devour** | to-infinitive · passive | beasts of prey |  |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **inter** | past · passive |  | chiefs and great men |  |  |  | with much ceremony | tree rules |

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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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