---
title: Some little distance off he saw a creature like a gigantic frog cove… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Some little distance off he saw a creature like a gigantic frog covered with hair, sitting down with its head bent down, as he watched the cow and other animals walked past the monster, and as they looked in its eyes they fell down dead, one after the other. Who acts: little distance, distance, cow.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 97

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Some little distance off he saw a creature like a gigantic frog covered with hair, sitting down with its head bent down, as he watched the cow and other animals walked past the monster, and as they looked in its eyes they fell down dead, one after the other.

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**Who acts:** little distance, distance, cow · **What happens:** see, cover, sit down, bend down, watch, walk · **To what, where:** creature, gigantic frog, head, eyes

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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 (little distance, distance, cow), 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:pg70959:12:98
# text = Some little distance off he saw a creature like a gigantic frog covered with hair, sitting down with its head bent down, as he watched the cow and other animals walked past the monster, and as they looked in its eyes they fell down dead, one after the other.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	like	like	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	gigantic	gigantic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
13	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
18	down	down	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	bent	bend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
23	down	down	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	watched	watch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	_
33	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	parataxis	_	_
34	past	past	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	monster	monster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	_
45	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	acl:relcl	_	_
47	down	down	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
50	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	41	conj	_	_
51	after	after	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | some little distance | a creature |  |  |  | like a gigantic frog; distance *nsubj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer creature=Stimulus |
| 2 | **cover** | participle |  | a gigantic frog *not said here* |  |  |  | with hair | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent with hair=Theme |
| 3 | **sit down** | gerund | some little distance *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with hair's head; down *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **bend down** | participle |  | hair's head *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **watch** | past | distance |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **walk** | past | the cow and other animals |  |  |  |  | past the monster | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme past monster=Trajectory |
| 7 | **look** | past | cow |  |  |  |  | in monster's eyes; one after the other *conj* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in eye=Theme |
| 8 | **fall down** | past | cow | monster's eyes *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient eye=Result |

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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:** «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.

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