---
title: They are not strict observers of truth, and, though not pilferers, t… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They are not strict observers of truth, and, though not pilferers, they are addicted to cattle lifting. Who acts: skins, cattle. 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 229

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They are not strict observers of truth, and, though not pilferers, they are addicted to cattle lifting.

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**Who acts:** skins, cattle · **What happens:** not be, addict, lift · **To what, where:** strict observers, skins

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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 (skins, cattle), 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:pg71335:2:229
# text = They are not strict observers of truth, and, though not pilferers, they are addicted to cattle lifting.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	strict	strict	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	observers	observer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	pilferers	pilferer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	addicted	addict	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	_
20	lifting	lift	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | present | skins *= skin* | strict observers |  |  |  | of truth | tree rules |
| 2 | **addict** | present · passive |  | skins *= skin* |  |  |  | to cattle; pilferers *obl* | vn addict-96 «NP V NP PP.Theme»: subject=Patient to cattle=Theme |
| 3 | **lift** | gerund | cattle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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