---
title: Before the supremacy of the Europeans it was seldom that the individ… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Before the supremacy of the Europeans it was seldom that the individual who filled this office died a natural death. Who acts: supremacy, individual. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 188

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Before the supremacy of the Europeans it was seldom that the individual who filled this office died a natural death.

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**Who acts:** supremacy, individual · **What happens:** be, fill, die · **To what, where:** individual, office, natural death

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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 (supremacy, individual), 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:pg71335:2:188
# text = Before the supremacy of the Europeans it was seldom that the individual who filled this office died a natural death.
1	Before	before	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	supremacy	supremacy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Europeans	European	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
9	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	individual	individual	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
14	filled	fill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
15	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	det	_	_
16	office	office	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | supremacy | the individual |  |  | before the supremacy of the Europeans | seldom *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fill** | past | the individual | this office |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent office=Patient |
| 3 | **die** | past | the individual *not said here* | a natural death |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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