---
title: The crab then went up to the animal and killed it with a stick; havi… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The crab then went up to the animal and killed it with a stick; having thrown the arrow away he would put the animal on one side as his own. 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 N
---

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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 7

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The crab then went up to the animal and killed it with a stick; having thrown the arrow away he would put the animal on one side as his own.

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**Who acts:** crab · **What happens:** go up, kill, throw away, put · **To what, where:** net, arrow, animal, one side

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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:pg70959:13:7
# text = The crab then went up to the animal and killed it with a stick; having thrown the arrow away he would put the animal on one side as his own.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	killed	kill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	aux	_	_
17	thrown	throw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	parataxis	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	arrow	arrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	away	away	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	parataxis	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
29	as	as	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go up** | past | the crab |  |  |  | then | to the animal | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **kill** | past | the crab *not said here* | net |  |  |  | with a stick | vn murder-42.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with stick=Instrument |
| 3 | **throw away** | gerund · perfect |  | the arrow |  |  |  | away *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arrow=Theme |
| 4 | **put** | would | crab | the animal |  | one side |  | as crab's own | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent animal=Theme on side=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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