---
title: Now the crab was a poor thing and could not walk fast, neither could… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the crab was a poor thing and could not walk fast, neither could he use a bow and arrow, so he took a long net with him into the forest and waited for the animals to run into it. Who acts: crab. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River
---

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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 5

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Now the crab was a poor thing and could not walk fast, neither could he use a bow and arrow, so he took a long net with him into the forest and waited for the animals to run into it.

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**Who acts:** crab · **What happens:** be, not walk, use, take, wait, run · **To what, where:** poor thing, bow, long net, forest

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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:pg70959:13:5
# text = Now the crab was a poor thing and could not walk fast, neither could he use a bow and arrow, so he took a long net with him into the forest and waited for the animals to run into it.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
12	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	17	cc:preconj	_	_
15	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	bow	bow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	arrow	arrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nmod	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obl	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	advcl	_	_
41	into	into	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the crab | a poor thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **walk** | could | the crab *not said here* |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **use** | could | crab | a bow and arrow |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bow=Patient |
| 4 | **take** | past | crab | a long net |  | the forest |  | with elephant | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent net=Theme into forest=Destination |
| 5 | **wait** | past | crab *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the animals | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **run** | to-infinitive | crab *not said here* |  |  | forest |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into it=Destination |

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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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