--- title: When the meal was over, the elephant told his wife to bring some wat… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: When the meal was over, the elephant told his wife to bring some water for them to drink, as the soup was so hot from the peppers that he had become quite thirsty, but his wife said that she had not got any water that morning, so they had better go to the pond, as it was not so far. Who acts: meal, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/17/) [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/) / [Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existe…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/) / 17 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., sentence 17 When the meal was over, the elephant told his wife to bring some water for them to drink, as the soup was so hot from the peppers that he had become quite thirsty, but his wife said that she had not got any water that morning, so they had better go to the pond, as it was not so far. **Who acts:** meal, elephant, hawk, soup, peppers, wife · **What happens:** be, tell, bring, drink, become, say · **To what, where:** wife, water, peppers, pond · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (meal, elephant, hawk, soup), 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:pg70959:13:17 # text = When the meal was over, the elephant told his wife to bring some water for them to drink, as the soup was so hot from the peppers that he had become quite thirsty, but his wife said that she had not got any water that morning, so they had better go to the pond, as it was not so far. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 5 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 meal meal NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 5 over over ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 elephant elephant NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 9 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 iobj _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 13 mark _ _ 13 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 xcomp _ _ 14 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 15 det _ _ 15 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 16 for for SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 17 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 18 to to PART TO _ 19 mark _ _ 19 drink drink VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 21 as as SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 soup soup NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 24 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 25 so so ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 26 hot hot ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 advcl _ _ 27 from from ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 peppers pepper NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 obl _ _ 30 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 33 nsubj _ _ 31 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 32 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 33 become become VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 29 acl:relcl _ _ 34 quite quite ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 35 thirsty thirsty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 37 but but CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 38 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 39 nmod:poss _ _ 39 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 40 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 41 that that SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 42 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 43 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 44 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 45 advmod _ _ 45 got get VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 40 ccomp _ _ 46 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 47 det _ _ 47 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obj _ _ 48 that that SCONJ IN _ 49 mark _ _ 49 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 53 punct _ _ 51 so so ADV RB _ 53 advmod _ _ 52 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 53 nsubj _ _ 53 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 ccomp _ _ 54 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 53 xcomp _ _ 55 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 54 csubj _ _ 56 to to ADP IN _ 58 case _ _ 57 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 58 det _ _ 58 pond pond NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 59 , , PUNCT , _ 65 punct _ _ 60 as as SCONJ IN _ 65 mark _ _ 61 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 65 nsubj _ _ 62 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 65 cop _ _ 63 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 65 advmod _ _ 64 so so ADV RB _ 65 advmod _ _ 65 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 53 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 66 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the meal | | | | | over *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the elephant | | elephant's wife | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **bring** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the elephant *not said here* | some water | | | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent water=Theme | | 4 | **drink** | to-infinitive | hawk | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **is** | past | the soup | | | the peppers | | hot *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **become** | past · perfect | the peppers | | | | | elephant *nsubj*; thirsty *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | elephant's wife | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 8 | **not** **get** | past · perfect | wife | any water | | | morning | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer water=Stimulus | | 9 | **have** | past | hawk | | | | | good *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 10 | **go** | infinitive | | | | the pond | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to pond=Initial\_Location | | 11 | **not** **is** | past | soup | | | | | far *property* | tree rules | 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 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/16/) - next →: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/18/) - ↑ back to [Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/)