---
title: Yet instances are not wanting of girls being compelled against their… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: Yet instances are not wanting of girls being compelled against their wishes to marry old men, who have already perhaps five or six wives. Who acts: instances, old men. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 7

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Yet instances are not wanting of girls being compelled against their wishes to marry old men, who have already perhaps five or six wives.

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**Who acts:** instances, old men · **What happens:** not want, compel, marry, have, wish · **To what, where:** old men, five wives

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (instances, old men), 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:pg71335:28:7
# text = Yet instances are not wanting of girls being compelled against their wishes to marry old men, who have already perhaps five or six wives.
1	Yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	instances	instance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	wanting	want	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
8	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	compelled	compel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	ccomp	_	_
10	against	against	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	wishes	wish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
15	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
20	already	already	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
23	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	conj	_	_
25	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **want** | present · progressive | instances |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **compel** | gerund · passive | instances *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of girls; against instances's wishes | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP» |
| 3 | **marry** | to-infinitive | instances *not said here* | old men |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |
| 4 | **have** | present | old men | five wives |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |
| 5 | **wish** |  | instances *= instance* |  |  |  |  |  | nom wish «feeling intransitive»: poss=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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