---
title: What appears in writing to be only one word, is often really three o… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: What appears in writing to be only one word, is often really three or four, but as in another combination these would change their positions, and as very frequently a single letter represents a word, it would create much greater confusion to separate them than to write them as one. Who acts: these, 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 65

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What appears in writing to be only one word, is often really three or four, but as in another combination these would change their positions, and as very frequently a single letter represents a word, it would create much greater confusion to separate them than to write them as one.

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**Who acts:** these, single letter, word · **What happens:** appear, be, change, represent, create, separate · **To what, where:** writing, one word, three, positions, word, greater confusion

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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 (these, single letter, word), 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:pg71335:2:65
# text = What appears in writing to be only one word, is often really three or four, but as in another combination these would change their positions, and as very frequently a single letter represents a word, it would create much greater confusion to separate them than to write them as one.
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	appears	appear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	often	often	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	really	really	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	parataxis	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
19	as	as	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	det	_	_
22	combination	combination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
23	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	25	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	positions	position	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
30	as	as	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	very	very	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	frequently	frequently	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
36	represents	represent	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	create	create	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
43	much	much	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	greater	great	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	45	amod	_	_
45	confusion	confusion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	separate	separate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	advcl	_	_
48	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	_
49	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	advcl	_	_
52	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	_
53	as	as	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **appear** | present |  |  |  | writing |  | What *nsubj* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in writing=Location |
| 2 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | one word |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | three |  |  |  | four *conj*; often *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **change** | would | these | combinations's positions |  |  |  | as another combination | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent position=Patient |
| 5 | **represent** | present | a single letter | a word |  |  |  | frequently *property* | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot word=Theme |
| 6 | **create** | would | word | greater confusion |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent confusion=Result |
| 7 | **separate** | to-infinitive | word *not said here* | positions *= position* |  |  |  |  | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 8 | **write** | to-infinitive | word *not said here* | positions *= position* |  |  |  | as one | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent they=Result as one=Attribute |

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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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