---
title: As she approached it, the bird got bigger and bigger, until at last… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: As she approached it, the bird got bigger and bigger, until at last when she was very near it, it was as big as a house (i.e., a native hut). Who acts: valley, bird. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children., with its dependency tree 
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children., sentence 56

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As she approached it, the bird got bigger and bigger, until at last when she was very near it, it was as big as a house (i.e., a native hut).

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**Who acts:** valley, bird · **What happens:** approach, get, be · **To what, where:** bird, last

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (valley, bird), 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:pg71335:15:56
# text = As she approached it, the bird got bigger and bigger, until at last when she was very near it, it was as big as a house (i.e., a native hut).
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
9	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	xcomp	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
13	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	obl	_	_
16	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	21	mark	_	_
17	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	very	very	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	near	near	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
25	as	as	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
27	as	as	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	i.e.	i.e.	ADV	FW	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	hut	hut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **approach** | past | valley | bird |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **get** | past | the bird |  |  |  |  | big *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | past | valley |  |  |  |  | near bird | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | bird |  |  | last |  | as a house; a native hut *parataxis*; big *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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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