---
title: If he is the abler ruler of the two, war between them follows almost… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: If he is the abler ruler of the two, war between them follows almost to a certainty as soon as the great heir reaches manhood, and is invested with a separate command. Who acts: portion, war, great heir. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaff
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 41

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If he is the abler ruler of the two, war between them follows almost to a certainty as soon as the great heir reaches manhood, and is invested with a separate command.

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**Who acts:** portion, war, great heir · **What happens:** be, follow, reach, invest · **To what, where:** abler ruler, certainty, manhood

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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 (portion, war, great heir), 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:pg71335:2:41
# text = If he is the abler ruler of the two, war between them follows almost to a certainty as soon as the great heir reaches manhood, and is invested with a separate command.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	abler	able	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	ruler	ruler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	advcl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
11	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
12	between	between	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nmod	_	_
14	follows	follow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	certainty	certainty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
19	as	as	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	heir	heir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	reaches	reach	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
26	manhood	manhood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	invested	invest	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	separate	separate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | portion | the abler ruler |  |  |  | of the two | tree rules |
| 2 | **follow** | present | war between opportunities | a certainty |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent certainty=Theme |
| 3 | **reach** | present | the great heir | manhood |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent manhood=Theme |
| 4 | **invest** | present · passive | war between opportunities *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with a separate command | vn equip-13.4.2 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: with command=Theme |

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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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