---
title: Thus in theory the government is despotic, but in practice it has ma… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Thus in theory the government is despotic, but in practice it has many checks. Who acts: government. 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 27

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Thus in theory the government is despotic, but in practice it has many checks.

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**Who acts:** government · **What happens:** be, have · **To what, where:** theory, many checks, practice

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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 (government), 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:pg71335:2:27
# text = Thus in theory the government is despotic, but in practice it has many checks.
1	Thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	theory	theory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	government	government	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	despotic	despotic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	practice	practice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
14	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	checks	check	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the government |  |  | theory |  | despotic, thus *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | present | government | many checks |  | practice |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent check=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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