--- title: As he was putting the yams into the basket, he took a great fancy to… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: As he was putting the yams into the basket, he took a great fancy to one particular yam-tail which he thought he would like to take home and eat, so he placed the yam-tail behind the tree where his father was standing, and then took the remaining yams out to the people on the farm to plant. Who acts --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/78/) [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/) / [Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyon…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/) / 78 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 78 As he was putting the yams into the basket, he took a great fancy to one particular yam-tail which he thought he would like to take home and eat, so he placed the yam-tail behind the tree where his father was standing, and then took the remaining yams out to the people on the farm to plant. **Who acts:** Eba, one particular yam tail, father · **What happens:** put, take, think, like, eat, place · **To what, where:** yams, basket, great fancy, one particular yam tail, yam tail, tree · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Eba, one particular yam tail, father), 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:pg70959:12:79 # text = As he was putting the yams into the basket, he took a great fancy to one particular yam-tail which he thought he would like to take home and eat, so he placed the yam-tail behind the tree where his father was standing, and then took the remaining yams out to the people on the farm to plant. 1 As as SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 putting put VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 12 advcl _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 yams yam NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obj _ _ 7 into into ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 basket basket NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 11 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 14 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 fancy fancy NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 16 to to ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 17 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 21 nummod _ _ 18 particular particular ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 19 yam yam NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 20 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 tail tail NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 22 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 24 nsubj _ _ 23 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 acl:relcl _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 like like VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 ccomp _ _ 28 to to PART TO _ 29 mark _ _ 29 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 xcomp _ _ 30 home home ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 32 eat eat VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 29 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 34 so so ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 placed place VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 38 yam yam NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 39 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 38 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 40 tail tail NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ _ 41 behind behind ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ _ 44 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 48 advmod _ _ 45 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 46 nmod:poss _ _ 46 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nsubj _ _ 47 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 48 standing stand VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 43 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 50 and and CCONJ CC _ 52 cc _ _ 51 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 52 advmod _ _ 52 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 53 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 54 remaining remaining ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 55 amod _ _ 55 yams yam NOUN NNS Number=Plur 52 obj _ _ 56 out out ADV RB _ 52 advmod _ _ 57 to to ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 58 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 59 det _ _ 59 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 52 obl _ _ 60 on on ADP IN _ 62 case _ _ 61 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 62 det _ _ 62 farm farm NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 obl _ _ 63 to to PART TO _ 64 mark _ _ 64 plant plant VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 52 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 65 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **put** | past · progressive | Eba | the yams | | the basket | | | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent yam=Goal | | 2 | **take** | past | Eba | a great fancy | | one particular yam tail | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent fancy=Theme to tail=Destination | | 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | one particular yam tail | | | | | Eba *nsubj* | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **like** | would | Eba | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 5 | **take** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Eba *not said here* | | | | | home *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **eat** | present | Eba *not said here* | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **place** | past | Eba | the yam tail | | the tree | | | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent tail=Theme behind tree=Destination | | 8 | **stand** | past · progressive | Eba's father | | | | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **take** | past | Eba *not said here* | the remaining yams | the people | the farm | then | out *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent yam=Theme to people=Destination | | 10 | **plant** | to-infinitive | Eba *not said here* | | | | | | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=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 77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/77/) - next →: [sentence 79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/79/) - ↑ back to [Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/)