---
title: It may be only an ordinary snake, he will add, but it is not advisab… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: It may be only an ordinary snake, he will add, but it is not advisable to run any risk, lest harm should befall his house. Who acts: form, Kaffir, it, harm. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 197

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It may be only an ordinary snake, he will add, but it is not advisable to run any risk, lest harm should befall his house.

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**Who acts:** form, Kaffir, it, harm · **What happens:** be, add, not be, run, befall · **To what, where:** ordinary snake, risk, house

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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 (form, Kaffir, it, harm), 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:pg71335:2:197
# text = It may be only an ordinary snake, he will add, but it is not advisable to run any risk, lest harm should befall his house.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	ordinary	ordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	add	add	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	advisable	advisable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	parataxis	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	csubj	_	_
20	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	det	_	_
21	risk	risk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	befall	befall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | may | form | a ordinary snake |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **add** *speech: assert* | future | Kaffir |  |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | advisable *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **run** | to-infinitive |  | any risk |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme risk=Trajectory |
| 5 | **befall** | should | harm | Kaffir's house |  |  |  |  | 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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