---
title: They are wiser than other people, and from them the most skilful wit… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They are wiser than other people, and from them the most skilful witchfinders are supposed to obtain a portion of the knowledge of their art. Who acts: people. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Tangalimlibo., sentence 66

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They are wiser than other people, and from them the most skilful witchfinders are supposed to obtain a portion of the knowledge of their art.

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**Who acts:** people · **What happens:** be, suppose, obtain · **To what, where:** skilful witchfinders, portion

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Tangalimlibo.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people), 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:pg71335:29:66
# text = They are wiser than other people, and from them the most skilful witchfinders are supposed to obtain a portion of the knowledge of their art.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	13	advmod	_	_
13	skilful	skilful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	witchfinders	witchfinder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	supposed	suppose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	obtain	obtain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	art	art	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | people |  |  |  |  | than other people; wise *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **suppose** | present · passive |  | the skilful witchfinders |  |  |  | from people | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 3 | **obtain** | to-infinitive |  | a portion of the knowledge of people's art |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset portion=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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