---
title: The rat said he was willing to do so, and gave the goat one of his s… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The rat said he was willing to do so, and gave the goat one of his small children. Who acts: rat. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 10

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The rat said he was willing to do so, and gave the goat one of his small children.

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**Who acts:** rat · **What happens:** say, be, do, give · **To what, where:** one, goat · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rat), 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:pg70959:15:10
# text = The rat said he was willing to do so, and gave the goat one of his small children.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	willing	willing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the rat |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | rat |  |  |  |  | willing *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** | to-infinitive | rat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **give** | past | the rat *not said here* | one of rat's small children | the goat |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent goat=Recipient one=Theme |

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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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