---
title: But his mother told him that she wanted to get the fruit herself, an… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But his mother told him that she wanted to get the fruit herself, and commenced gathering the mangoes and eating some of the ripe ones. Who acts: mother. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its dependency tree
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 18

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But his mother told him that she wanted to get the fruit herself, and commenced gathering the mangoes and eating some of the ripe ones.

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**Who acts:** mother · **What happens:** tell, want, get, commence, gather, eat · **To what, where:** man, fruit, mangoes, some · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother), 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:pg70959:14:18
# text = But his mother told him that she wanted to get the fruit herself, and commenced gathering the mangoes and eating some of the ripe ones.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	commenced	commence	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	gathering	gather	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	xcomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	mangoes	mango	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	conj	_	_
22	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	ripe	ripe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | man's mother |  | man |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **want** | past | mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **get** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | mother *not said here* | the fruit |  |  |  | mother *obl* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer fruit=Stimulus |
| 4 | **commence** | past | man's mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **gather** | gerund | man's mother *not said here* | the mangoes |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mango=Theme |
| 6 | **eat** | gerund | man's mother *not said here* | some of the ripe ones |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent some=Patient |

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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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