--- title: After a time he thought that if he left the crab in the water that h… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: After a time he thought that if he left the crab in the water that he would fill the pond up again, so he told the hawk to dig away at the lower end, so that the water could flow out of the pond. Who acts: elephant, water. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrel --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/23/) [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/) / 23 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., sentence 23 After a time he thought that if he left the crab in the water that he would fill the pond up again, so he told the hawk to dig away at the lower end, so that the water could flow out of the pond. **Who acts:** elephant, water · **What happens:** think, leave, fill up, tell, dig away, flow out · **To what, where:** crab, water, pond, hawk · **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 (elephant, water), 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:pg70959:13:23 # text = After a time he thought that if he left the crab in the water that he would fill the pond up again, so he told the hawk to dig away at the lower end, so that the water could flow out of the pond. 1 After after ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 4 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 5 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 that that SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 7 if if SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 8 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 left leave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 ccomp _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 crab crab NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 12 in in ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ _ 15 that that SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 16 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 17 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 18 aux _ _ 18 fill fill VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 advcl _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 pond pond NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ _ 21 up up ADP RP _ 18 compound:prt _ _ 22 again again ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 24 so so ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 hawk hawk NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 30 dig dig VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 xcomp _ _ 31 away away ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 32 at at ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 34 lower low ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 35 amod _ _ 35 end end NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 37 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 42 mark _ _ 38 that that SCONJ IN _ 37 fixed _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 nsubj _ _ 41 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 42 flow flow VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 conj _ _ 43 out out ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 44 of of ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 pond pond NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | elephant | | | | time | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 2 | **leave** | past | elephant | the crab | | the water | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent crab=Theme in water=Location | | 3 | **fill up** | would | elephant | the pond | | | again | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent pond=Patient | | 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | elephant | | the hawk | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent hawk=Recipient clause=Topic | | 5 | **dig away** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | elephant *not said here* | | | | at the lower end | away *property* | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at end=Theme | | 6 | **flow out** | could | the water | the pond | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location pond=Theme | 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 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/22/) - next →: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/13/24/) - ↑ 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/)