---
title: There are numerous old men in every clan who profess to be acquainte… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: There are numerous old men in every clan who profess to be acquainted with the deeds of the past, but their accounts of these seldom correspond in details beyond a period of about a century and a half. Who acts: numerous old men, clan, accounts, deeds. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCa
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 80

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There are numerous old men in every clan who profess to be acquainted with the deeds of the past, but their accounts of these seldom correspond in details beyond a period of about a century and a half.

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**Who acts:** numerous old men, clan, accounts, deeds · **What happens:** be, profess, acquaint, correspond, account · **To what, where:** details, seldom

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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 (numerous old men, clan, accounts, deeds), 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:pg71335:2:80
# text = There are numerous old men in every clan who profess to be acquainted with the deeds of the past, but their accounts of these seldom correspond in details beyond a period of about a century and a half.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	numerous	numerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	clan	clan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	profess	profess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	acquainted	acquaint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	ccomp	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	deeds	deed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	past	past	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	accounts	account	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	seldom	seldom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
27	correspond	correspond	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	details	detail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
30	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	about	about	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	36	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **does** | present | numerous old men in every clan |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **profess** | present | every clan |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-2 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **acquaint** *speech: other* | to-infinitive · passive | every clan *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the deeds of the past | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient» |
| 4 | **correspond** | present | deeds's accounts of this seldom |  |  | details beyond a period of a century and a half |  |  | vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **account** |  | deeds *= deed* | this seldom |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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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