---
title: Before his time the corpses of common people were not usually interr… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Before his time the corpses of common people were not usually interred, but by his orders it has been done ever since. Who acts: orders, Makana. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/26/127/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Kaffir folk-lore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/) / [Proverbs and Figurative Expressions.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/26/) / 127

# Kaffir folk-lore, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., sentence 127

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Before his time the corpses of common people were not usually interred, but by his orders it has been done ever since.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** orders, Makana · **What happens:** not inter, do, order · **To what, where:** corpses, hope

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (orders, Makana), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg71335:26:127
# text = Before his time the corpses of common people were not usually interred, but by his orders it has been done ever since.
1	Before	before	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	corpses	corpse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	interred	inter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	orders	order	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	advcl	_	_
22	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	23	advmod	_	_
23	since	since	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **inter** | past · passive |  | the corpses of common people |  |  | time | usually *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | present · perfect · passive | Makana's orders | hope |  |  | ever | since *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Eventuality |
| 3 | **order** |  | Makana |  |  |  |  |  | nom order «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 126](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/26/126/)
- next →: [sentence 128](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/26/128/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs and Figurative Expressions.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/26/)