---
title: The crab was very angry at losing all the meat, so he thought he wou… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The crab was very angry at losing all the meat, so he thought he would revenge himself upon the elephant. Who acts: crab. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., with its dependency tree a
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., sentence 11

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The crab was very angry at losing all the meat, so he thought he would revenge himself upon the elephant.

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**Who acts:** crab · **What happens:** be, lose, think, revenge · **To what, where:** meat, crab · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (crab), 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:pg70959:13:11
# text = The crab was very angry at losing all the meat, so he thought he would revenge himself upon the elephant.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	losing	lose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	obl	_	_
8	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	10	det:predet	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	revenge	revenge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	ccomp	_	_
18	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	nmod	_	_
19	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the crab |  |  |  |  | angry *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **lose** | gerund |  | all meat |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Eventuality |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | crab |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **revenge** | would | crab | crab |  |  |  | upon the elephant | tree rules |

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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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