---
title: The elephant at once guessed that it was the crab who had filled up… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The elephant at once guessed that it was the crab who had filled up his drinking pond, and being in a furious rage, he cut the crab’s head off and threw him into the pond. Who acts: elephant, mud, crab. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the R
---

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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 21

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The elephant at once guessed that it was the crab who had filled up his drinking pond, and being in a furious rage, he cut the crab’s head off and threw him into the pond.

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**Who acts:** elephant, mud, crab · **What happens:** guess, be, fill up, cut off, throw · **To what, where:** crab, drinking pond, furious rage, head, elephant, pond · **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 (elephant, mud, 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:pg70959:13:21
# text = The elephant at once guessed that it was the crab who had filled up his drinking pond, and being in a furious rage, he cut the crab’s head off and threw him into the pond.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	obl	_	_
5	guessed	guess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	acl:relcl	_	_
14	up	up	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	drinking	drinking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	cop	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	furious	furious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	rage	rage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’s	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
32	off	off	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	into	into	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guess** | past | the elephant |  |  |  |  |  | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.value»: agent=Agent at once=Value |
| 2 | **is a** | past | mud | the crab |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fill up** | past · perfect | the crab | elephant's drinking pond |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent pond=Patient |
| 4 | **is** | gerund | the elephant *not said here* |  |  | a furious rage |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **cut off** | past | elephant | the crab's head |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality |
| 6 | **throw** | past | elephant *not said here* | elephant |  |  |  | into the pond *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer he=Theme into pond=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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