--- title: When he said that he was swimming from the island towards the land t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: When he said that he was swimming from the island towards the land the alligator caught him, saying, “I want you to do me a service first, and then I will let you go.” Who acts: fish, alligator, you. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/24/) [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/) / 24 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 24 When he said that he was swimming from the island towards the land the alligator caught him, saying, “I want you to do me a service first, and then I will let you go.” **Who acts:** fish, alligator, you · **What happens:** say, swim, catch, want, do, let · **To what, where:** island, fish, you, service · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (fish, alligator, you), 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:pg70959:16:24 # text = When he said that he was swimming from the island towards the land the alligator caught him, saying, “I want you to do me a service first, and then I will let you go.” 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 3 advmod _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 that that SCONJ IN _ 7 mark _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 6 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 7 swimming swim VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 3 advcl _ _ 8 from from ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 island island NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 11 towards towards ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 alligator alligator NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ _ 16 caught catch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 acl:relcl _ _ 17 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 19 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 3 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 21 “ " PUNCT `` _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 23 want want VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 19 ccomp _ _ 24 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 23 obj _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 xcomp _ _ 27 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 26 iobj _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 service service NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 30 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 26 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 33 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 36 advmod _ _ 34 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 35 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 36 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 ccomp _ _ 37 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ _ 38 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 40 ” " PUNCT '' _ 36 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | fish | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **swim** | past · progressive | fish | | | the island | | towards the land | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards land=Destination | | 3 | **catch** | past | the alligator | fish | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | fish *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **want** *in a quote* | present | fish | you | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **do** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | a service | fish | | | first *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **let** *in a quote* | future | fish | you | | | then | | tree rules | | 8 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/23/) - next →: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/25/) - ↑ back to [Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/)