---
title: It is as if one said, You are like an infant crawling towards the fi… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: It is as if one said, You are like an infant crawling towards the fire circle (in the middle of a Kaffir hut), who is sure to get burnt. Who acts: It, You, infant crawling. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., sentence 163

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It is as if one said, You are like an infant crawling towards the fire circle (in the middle of a Kaffir hut), who is sure to get burnt.

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**Who acts:** It, You, infant crawling · **What happens:** be, get · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, You, infant crawling), 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:pg71335:26:163
# text = It is as if one said, You are like an infant crawling towards the fire circle (in the middle of a Kaffir hut), who is sure to get burnt.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	infant	infant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	crawling	crawling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	_
14	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
18	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	appos	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	Kaffir	Kaffir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	hut	hut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	conj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	burnt	burnt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *speech: assert* | present | It |  |  |  |  | one *nsubj*; say *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | You |  |  |  |  | like a infant crawling; towards the fire circle | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | a infant crawling |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **get** | to-infinitive | a infant crawling *not said here* |  |  |  |  | burnt *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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