---
title: Negatively they replied to my inquiries much better than positively. — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Negatively they replied to my inquiries much better than positively. Who acts: corpses, my. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 144

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Negatively they replied to my inquiries much better than positively.

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**Who acts:** corpses, my · **What happens:** reply, inquire

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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 (corpses, my), 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:pg71335:2:144
# text = Negatively they replied to my inquiries much better than positively.
1	Negatively	negatively	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	inquiries	inquiry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	much	much	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	parataxis	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	positively	positively	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | corpses *= corpse* |  |  |  |  | to my inquiries; negatively *property* | vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to inquiry=Theme |
| 2 | **inquire** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom inquiry «cognition transitive»: 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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