---
title: It is said that a long time ago there was a man of the Amambalu who… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: It is said that a long time ago there was a man of the Amambalu who had good reason to suspect that his wife had fallen in love with Hili. Who acts: man, wife. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/26/62/)

<!-- 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/) / 62

# Kaffir folk-lore, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., sentence 62

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is said that a long time ago there was a man of the Amambalu who had good reason to suspect that his wife had fallen in love with Hili.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, wife · **What happens:** say, be, have, suspect, fall · **To what, where:** Kaffir, good reason, love · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .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 (man, wife), 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:pg71335:26:62
# text = It is said that a long time ago there was a man of the Amambalu who had good reason to suspect that his wife had fallen in love with Hili.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	10	expl	_	_
10	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	Amambalu	Amambalu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
18	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	suspect	suspect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	acl	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	ccomp	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	love	love	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	Hili	Hili	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | Kaffir |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | past | a man of the Amambalu |  |  | there |  | ago *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | past | a man of the Amambalu | good reason |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Patient |
| 4 | **suspect** | to-infinitive | a man of the Amambalu *not said here* | good reason *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **fall** | past · perfect | man's wife |  |  | love with Hili |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in love=Location |

<!-- .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 61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/26/61/)
- next →: [sentence 63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/26/63/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs and Figurative Expressions.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/26/)