--- title: With reference to the eating of rats, it may be remarked that all th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: With reference to the eating of rats, it may be remarked that all the natives in the Ikom district eat the bush rat, which is quite different from the house or domestic species, but the Bassankwala people are the only natives the author has met who eat the “common or garden” house rat. Who acts: nat --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/118/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/) / 118 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 118 With reference to the eating of rats, it may be remarked that all the natives in the Ikom district eat the bush rat, which is quite different from the house or domestic species, but the Bassankwala people are the only natives the author has met who eat the “common or garden” house rat. **Who acts:** natives, bush rat, Bassankwala people, author, rats · **What happens:** remark, eat, be, meet · **To what, where:** eating, bush rat, house, only natives, common This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (natives, bush rat, Bassankwala people, author), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:1:118 # text = With reference to the eating of rats, it may be remarked that all the natives in the Ikom district eat the bush rat, which is quite different from the house or domestic species, but the Bassankwala people are the only natives the author has met who eat the “common or garden” house rat. 1 With with ADP IN _ 2 case _ _ 2 reference reference NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 3 to to ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 eating eating NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nmod _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 rats rat NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 9 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj:pass _ _ 10 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 11 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 12 aux:pass _ _ 12 remarked remark VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 13 that that SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 14 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 16 det:predet _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 natives native NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 nsubj _ _ 17 in in ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 Ikom Ikom PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 compound _ _ 20 district district NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ _ 21 eat eat VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 12 advcl _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 bush bush NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 compound _ _ 24 rat rat NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 26 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 29 nsubj _ _ 27 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 29 cop _ _ 28 quite quite ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ _ 29 different different ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 conj _ _ 30 from from ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ _ 33 or or CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 34 domestic domestic ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 35 species species NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 37 but but CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 Bassankwala Bassankwala PROPN NNP Number=Sing 40 compound _ _ 40 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 nsubj _ _ 41 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 44 cop _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 43 only only ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 natives native NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 obl _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 author author NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nsubj _ _ 47 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 48 met meet VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 12 advcl _ _ 49 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 50 nsubj _ _ 50 eat eat VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 48 parataxis _ _ 51 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 52 “ " PUNCT `` _ 53 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 53 common common ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 50 obj _ _ 54 or or CCONJ CC _ 55 cc _ _ 55 garden garden NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 56 ” " PUNCT '' _ 53 punct _ _ 57 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 compound _ _ 58 rat rat NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 59 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **remark** *speech: assert* | may · passive | | eating | | | | with reference to the eating of rats | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | | 2 | **eat** | present | all natives in the Ikom district | the bush rat | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rat=Patient | | 3 | **is** | present | the bush rat | | | the house or domestic species | | different *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **is a** | present | the Bassankwala people | the only natives | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **meet** | present · perfect | the author | | | | | | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **eat** | present | | the common or garden and house rat | | | | who *nsubj* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent common=Patient | | 7 | **eat** | | rats | | | | | | nom eating «act intransitive»: of=agent | 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. **Text:** «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Project Gutenberg book 70959 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 117](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/117/) - next →: [sentence 119](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/119/) - ↑ back to [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/)