---
title: Far nearer to him than Qamata or the spirits of his ancestors is a w… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Far nearer to him than Qamata or the spirits of his ancestors is a whole host of water sprites and hobgoblins, who meet him turn which way he will. Who acts: nearer Qamata, whole host. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its depe
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 173

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Far nearer to him than Qamata or the spirits of his ancestors is a whole host of water sprites and hobgoblins, who meet him turn which way he will.

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**Who acts:** nearer Qamata, whole host · **What happens:** be, meet, turn · **To what, where:** whole host, Qamata, way

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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 (nearer Qamata, whole host), 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:pg71335:2:173
# text = Far nearer to him than Qamata or the spirits of his ancestors is a whole host of water sprites and hobgoblins, who meet him turn which way he will.
1	Far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
2	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Qamata	Qamata	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	ancestors	ancestor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	sprites	sprite	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	hobgoblins	hobgoblin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
24	meet	meet	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	28	det	_	_
28	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | nearer Qamata or the spirits of Qamata's ancestors | a whole host |  |  |  | of water sprites and hobgoblins | tree rules |
| 2 | **meet** | present | a whole host | Qamata |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **turn** | infinitive | a whole host *not said here* | which way |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent way=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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