---
title: But while it operated against unity, it tended towards a rapid expan… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: But while it operated against unity, it tended towards a rapid expansion of the people in a country where only a slight opposition could be made by the earlier inhabitants. Who acts: peace, earlier inhabitants. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding t
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 44

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But while it operated against unity, it tended towards a rapid expansion of the people in a country where only a slight opposition could be made by the earlier inhabitants.

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**Who acts:** peace, earlier inhabitants · **What happens:** operate, tend, make, expand · **To what, where:** slight opposition, people

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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 (peace, earlier inhabitants), 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:pg71335:2:44
# text = But while it operated against unity, it tended towards a rapid expansion of the people in a country where only a slight opposition could be made by the earlier inhabitants.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	operated	operate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
5	against	against	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	unity	unity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	tended	tend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	rapid	rapid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	expansion	expansion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
20	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	27	advmod	_	_
21	only	only	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	slight	slight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	opposition	opposition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl:relcl	_	_
28	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	earlier	early	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	31	amod	_	_
31	inhabitants	inhabitant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **operate** | past | peace |  |  |  |  | against unity | vn function-105.2.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tend** | past | peace |  |  |  |  | towards a rapid expansion of the people in a country | vn caring-75.2-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **make** | could · passive | the earlier inhabitants | a slight opposition |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset subject=Product |
| 4 | **expand** |  |  | the people in a country |  |  |  |  | nom expansion «act transitive»: of=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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