---
title: This proverb is equivalent to the English one, A bird in the hand is… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: This proverb is equivalent to the English one, A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Who acts: proverb, bird. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Proverbs and Figurative Expressions., sentence 70

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This proverb is equivalent to the English one, A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

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**Who acts:** proverb, bird · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** English one, bush

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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 (proverb, 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:pg71335:26:70
# text = This proverb is equivalent to the English one, A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	proverb	proverb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	equivalent	equivalent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
17	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	obj	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | this proverb |  | the English one |  |  | equivalent *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | a bird in the hand |  |  | the bush |  | two *obj*; worth *property* | 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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