--- title: The large fruit-eating bats, about which so many native stories are… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: The large fruit-eating bats, about which so many native stories are told, are looked upon as a great delicacy, and at Insofan on the Cross River, there is quite a trade done in them, one bat selling for one rod or sixpence in English money. Who acts: trade, one bat. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/119/) [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/) / 119 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 119 The large fruit-eating bats, about which so many native stories are told, are looked upon as a great delicacy, and at Insofan on the Cross River, there is quite a trade done in them, one bat selling for one rod or sixpence in English money. **Who acts:** trade, one bat · **What happens:** eat, tell, look, be, do, sell · **To what, where:** many native stories, large eating bats, Insofan, trade, English money · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (trade, one bat), 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:pg70959:1:119 # text = The large fruit-eating bats, about which so many native stories are told, are looked upon as a great delicacy, and at Insofan on the Cross River, there is quite a trade done in them, one bat selling for one rod or sixpence in English money. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 2 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 3 fruit fruit NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 4 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 eating eat VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 6 amod _ _ 6 bats bat NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 nsubj:pass _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 8 about about ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 15 obl _ _ 10 so so ADV RB _ 11 advmod _ _ 11 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 12 native native ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 stories story NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nsubj:pass _ _ 14 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 15 aux:pass _ _ 15 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 17 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 18 aux:pass _ _ 18 looked look VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 19 upon upon ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 20 as as ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 delicacy delicacy NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 26 at at ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 Insofan Insofan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 28 on on ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 Cross Cross PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 compound _ _ 31 River River PROPN NNP Number=Sing 27 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 33 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 34 expl _ _ 34 is be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 18 parataxis _ _ 35 quite quite DET PDT PronType=Ind 37 det:predet _ _ 36 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 trade trade NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 38 done do VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 37 acl _ _ 39 in in ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 42 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 43 nummod _ _ 43 bat bat NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 conj _ _ 44 selling sell VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 43 acl _ _ 45 for for ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 46 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 47 nummod _ _ 47 rod rod NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl _ _ 48 or or CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 49 sixpence sixpence NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 conj _ _ 50 in in ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 51 English English PROPN NNP Number=Sing 52 compound _ _ 52 money money NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 18 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **eat** | gerund | | | | | | fruit *compound* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · passive | | many native stories | | | | about the large eating bats | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient about which=Topic | | 3 | **look** | present · passive | | the large eating bats | | | | upon a great delicacy | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute | | 4 | **does** | present | quite trade and one bat | | | Insofan on the Cross River; there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at insofan=Location | | 5 | **do** | participle | | quite trade and one bat *not said here* | | | | in STORIES *= story* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **sell** | gerund | one bat *not said here* | | | English money | | for one rod or sixpence | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent for rod=Asset | 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 118](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/118/) - next →: [sentence 120](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/120/) - ↑ back to [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/1/)