---
title: When the morning came, the goat, missing his beans, guessed that the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the morning came, the goat, missing his beans, guessed that the rat had eaten them, and told him that he must pay for the beans he had stolen. Who acts: morning, rat. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So St
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 9

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When the morning came, the goat, missing his beans, guessed that the rat had eaten them, and told him that he must pay for the beans he had stolen.

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**Who acts:** morning, rat · **What happens:** come, miss, guess, eat, tell, pay · **To what, where:** goat, beans, rat · **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 (morning, 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:pg70959:15:9
# text = When the morning came, the goat, missing his beans, guessed that the rat had eaten them, and told him that he must pay for the beans he had stolen.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	missing	miss	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	beans	bean	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	guessed	guess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	iobj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	ccomp	_	_
28	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	beans	bean	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	stolen	steal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	30	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the morning | the goat |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **miss** | gerund | the morning *not said here* | rat's beans |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bean=Stimulus |
| 3 | **guess** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **eat** | past · perfect | the rat | beans *= bean* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | rat |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **pay** | must | rat |  |  |  |  | for the beans | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent for bean=Theme |
| 7 | **steal** | past · perfect | rat | the beans *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bean=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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