---
title: But Long Snake, though a man, has been bewitched and obliged to assu… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: But Long Snake, though a man, has been bewitched and obliged to assume the appearance of a serpent, retaining however the faculties of a human being. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Long Snake., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Long Snake., sentence 3

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But Long Snake, though a man, has been bewitched and obliged to assume the appearance of a serpent, retaining however the faculties of a human being.

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**What happens:** bewitch, oblige, assume, retain · **To what, where:** man, appearance, faculties

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Long Snake.. 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:pg71335:37:3
# text = But Long Snake, though a man, has been bewitched and obliged to assume the appearance of a serpent, retaining however the faculties of a human being.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	2	cc	_	_
2	Long	Long	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
3	Snake	Snake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
5	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	bewitched	bewitch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	assume	assume	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	appearance	appearance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	retaining	retain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
23	however	however	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	faculties	faculty	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
26	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	acl	_	_
29	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bewitch** | present · perfect · passive |  | a man |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **oblige** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Result |
| 3 | **assume** | to-infinitive |  | the appearance of a serpent |  |  |  |  | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent appearance=Theme |
| 4 | **retain** | gerund |  | the faculties |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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