--- title: He looked all round the island for a place to make his house in, but… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: He looked all round the island for a place to make his house in, but it was all wet, as the river was high; so the next day he determined to swim across the river, and risk being eaten. Who acts: friend, island, river. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, X --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/19/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/) / 19 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 19 He looked all round the island for a place to make his house in, but it was all wet, as the river was high; so the next day he determined to swim across the river, and risk being eaten. **Who acts:** friend, island, river · **What happens:** look, make in, be, determine, swim, eat · **To what, where:** island, house, river, risk This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (friend, island, river), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:16:19 # text = He looked all round the island for a place to make his house in, but it was all wet, as the river was high; so the next day he determined to swim across the river, and risk being eaten. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 looked look VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 all all ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 4 round round ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 island island NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 7 for for ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nmod _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 advcl _ _ 12 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 13 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 14 in in ADP RP _ 11 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 16 but but CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 17 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 18 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 cop _ _ 19 all all ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ _ 20 wet wet ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 22 as as SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 25 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 26 high high ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ; ; PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 28 so so ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 next next ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl:unmarked _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 determined determine VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 swim swim VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 xcomp _ _ 36 across across ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 41 risk risk NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nsubj:pass _ _ 42 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 43 aux:pass _ _ 43 eaten eat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 33 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **look** | past | friend | the island | | | | for a place | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme island=Attribute | | 2 | **make in** | to-infinitive | friend *not said here* | friend's house | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset house=Product | | 3 | **is** | past | island | | | | | all, wet *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **is** | past | the river | | | | | high *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **determine** | past | friend | | | | day | | vn discover-84 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **swim** | to-infinitive | friend *not said here* | | | the river | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across river=Trajectory | | 7 | **eat** | gerund · passive | | risk | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/18/) - next →: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/20/) - ↑ back to [Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/)