---
title: Certain persons obtain from the demons power to bewitch others, and… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Certain persons obtain from the demons power to bewitch others, and thus sickness and death are caused. Who acts: Certain persons. 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 183

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Certain persons obtain from the demons power to bewitch others, and thus sickness and death are caused.

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**Who acts:** Certain persons · **What happens:** obtain, bewitch, cause · **To what, where:** demons power, others, sickness

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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 (Certain persons), 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:pg71335:2:183
# text = Certain persons obtain from the demons power to bewitch others, and thus sickness and death are caused.
1	Certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	obtain	obtain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	demons	demon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	compound	_	_
7	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	bewitch	bewitch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
10	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
14	sickness	sickness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
17	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **obtain** | present | Certain persons |  |  | the demons power |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from power=Source |
| 2 | **bewitch** | to-infinitive | Certain persons *not said here* | others |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus other=Experiencer |
| 3 | **cause** | present · passive |  | sickness and death |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

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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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