---
title: The bird began to dance in the house, but one said: “This place is t… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: The bird began to dance in the house, but one said: “This place is too confined,” so they took it outside of the house. Who acts: bird, one, others. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II., sentence 63

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The bird began to dance in the house, but one said: “This place is too confined,” so they took it outside of the house.

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**Who acts:** bird, one, others · **What happens:** begin, dance, say, confine, take · **To what, where:** house, place · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of the Bird That Made Milk. II.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bird, one, others), 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:pg71335:4:63
# text = The bird began to dance in the house, but one said: “This place is too confined,” so they took it outside of the house.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	det	_	_
16	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
18	too	too	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	confined	confine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the bird |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **dance** | to-infinitive | the bird *not said here* |  |  | the house |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in house=Location |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | one |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **confine** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | this place |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **take** | past | others *= other* | place |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

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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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