---
title: Sooner or later he would fail to cause rain to fall when it was need… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Sooner or later he would fail to cause rain to fall when it was needed, or warriors whom he had made invulnerable would be struck down, or something else would happen which would cause him to be regarded as an impostor. Who acts: finder, rain, something. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George Mc
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 189

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Sooner or later he would fail to cause rain to fall when it was needed, or warriors whom he had made invulnerable would be struck down, or something else would happen which would cause him to be regarded as an impostor.

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**Who acts:** finder, rain, something · **What happens:** fail, not cause, fall, need, make, strike down · **To what, where:** rain, supremacy, warriors, finder

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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 (finder, rain, something), 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:pg71335:2:189
# text = Sooner or later he would fail to cause rain to fall when it was needed, or warriors whom he had made invulnerable would be struck down, or something else would happen which would cause him to be regarded as an impostor.
1	Sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
2	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	1	conj	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	fail	fail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	cause	cause	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	needed	need	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	warriors	warrior	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	obl	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	acl:relcl	_	_
23	invulnerable	invulnerable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	xcomp	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
27	down	down	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	33	nsubj	_	_
31	else	else	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
34	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	36	nsubj	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	cause	cause	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	regarded	regard	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	advcl	_	_
41	as	as	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	impostor	impostor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fail** | would | finder |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **not** **cause** | to-infinitive | finder *not said here* | rain |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fall** | to-infinitive | rain *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **need** | past · passive |  | supremacy |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **make** | past · perfect | finder | warriors |  |  |  | invulnerable *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **strike down** | would · passive |  | warriors |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 7 | **happen** | would | something |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **cause** | would |  | finder |  |  |  | which *nsubj* | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition he=Patient |
| 9 | **regard** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  | as a impostor | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.value»: as impostor=Value |

<!-- .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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