---
title: But before the hare started he threw some small bits of dried stick… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But before the hare started he threw some small bits of dried stick into the river and watched the fish come up and look at them. Who acts: hare, friend, fish. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., with its dependency tre
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/20/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 20

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But before the hare started he threw some small bits of dried stick into the river and watched the fish come up and look at them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** hare, friend, fish · **What happens:** start, throw, dry, watch, come up, look · **To what, where:** small bits, river

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (hare, friend, fish), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:16:20
# text = But before the hare started he threw some small bits of dried stick into the river and watched the fish come up and look at them.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
9	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	bits	bit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	dried	dry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	amod	_	_
13	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	into	into	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	watched	watch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
21	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	ccomp	_	_
22	up	up	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	look	look	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | past | the hare |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **throw** | past | friend | some small bits of dried stick |  |  |  | into the river *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer bit=Theme into river=Result |
| 3 | **dry** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **watch** | past | friend *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **come up** | present | the fish |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **look** | infinitive | the fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at bits *= bit* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at they=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/19/)
- next →: [sentence 21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/21/)
- ↑ back to [Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/)