---
title: This saying is used when one has committed oneself to any matter of… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: This saying is used when one has committed oneself to any matter of importance. Who acts: importance. 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 170

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This saying is used when one has committed oneself to any matter of importance.

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**Who acts:** importance · **What happens:** use, commit, matter · **To what, where:** saying, one

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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 (importance), 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:pg71335:26:170
# text = This saying is used when one has committed oneself to any matter of importance.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
6	one	one	PRON	PRP	PronType=Ind	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	committed	commit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
9	oneself	oneself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	importance	importance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present · passive |  | this saying |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **commit** | present · perfect · passive |  | one |  |  |  | to any matter of importance; oneself *obj* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Asset oneself=Goal |
| 3 | **matter** |  | importance |  |  |  |  |  | nom matter «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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