---
title: But he would never open the bag so that any one could see what sort… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: But he would never open the bag so that any one could see what sort of a bird he had. Who acts: cannibal, one. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird., sentence 15

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But he would never open the bag so that any one could see what sort of a bird he had.

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**Who acts:** cannibal, one · **What happens:** not open, see, have, sort · **To what, where:** bag, sort, bird

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cannibal, one), 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:pg71335:14:15
# text = But he would never open the bag so that any one could see what sort of a bird he had.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	13	mark	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	fixed	_	_
10	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
14	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	15	det	_	_
15	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **open** | would | cannibal | the bag |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bag=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | could | any one | what sort of a bird |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer sort=Stimulus |
| 3 | **have** | past | cannibal | a bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Patient |
| 4 | **sort** |  |  | a bird |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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