---
title: A saying applied to a shiftless person, one who never continues long… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: A saying applied to a shiftless person, one who never continues long in any occupation. 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 73

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A saying applied to a shiftless person, one who never continues long in any occupation.

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**What happens:** apply, not continue · **To what, where:** saying, occupation, 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: 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:pg71335:26:73
# text = A saying applied to a shiftless person, one who never continues long in any occupation.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	applied	apply	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	shiftless	shiftless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
11	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	continues	continue	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	xcomp	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	det	_	_
16	occupation	occupation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **apply** | participle |  | a saying *not said here* |  |  |  | to a shiftless person | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **continue** | present |  |  |  | any occupation |  | who *nsubj*; long *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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