---
title: “Had he been once a chief, such as Xosa or Tshawe?” — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: “Had he been once a chief, such as Xosa or Tshawe?” 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 145

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“Had he been once a chief, such as Xosa or Tshawe?”

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**What happens:** have, be · **To what, where:** portion

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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: 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:pg71335:2:145
# text = “Had he been once a chief, such as Xosa or Tshawe?”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
5	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	7	advmod	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	chief	chief	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	11	case	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	fixed	_	_
11	Xosa	Xosa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	Tshawe	Tshawe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** *in a quote* | past |  | portion |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | such Xosa or Tshawe; chief, once *property* | 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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