---
title: During the night, while the goat was asleep, a rat came into the hou… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: During the night, while the goat was asleep, a rat came into the house and eat all the beans up. Who acts: goat, 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 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 8

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During the night, while the goat was asleep, a rat came into the house and eat all the beans up.

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**Who acts:** goat, rat · **What happens:** be, come, eat up · **To what, where:** night, house, beans

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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 (goat, 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:pg70959:15:8
# text = During the night, while the goat was asleep, a rat came into the house and eat all the beans up.
1	During	during	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	into	into	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	beans	bean	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
22	up	up	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the goat | the night *not said here* |  |  |  | asleep *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | past | a rat |  |  | the house | night |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into house=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **eat up** | infinitive | a rat *not said here* | all beans |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bean=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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