---
title: But the Kaffirs would not believe that Makana was dead, for they dee… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: But the Kaffirs would not believe that Makana was dead, for they deemed him immortal. Who acts: Kaffirs, Makana, proverbs. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., sentence 123

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But the Kaffirs would not believe that Makana was dead, for they deemed him immortal.

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**Who acts:** Kaffirs, Makana, proverbs · **What happens:** not believe, be, deem · **To what, where:** Makana · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Kaffirs, Makana, proverbs), 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:pg71335:26:123
# text = But the Kaffirs would not believe that Makana was dead, for they deemed him immortal.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Kaffirs	Kaffir	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	Makana	Makana	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	deemed	deem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	immortal	immortal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **believe** | would | the Kaffirs |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past | Makana |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **deem** | past | proverbs *= proverb* | Makana |  |  |  | immortal *obj* | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent he=Theme immortal=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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