---
title: At this time the alligators were grey-coloured without any markings,… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: At this time the alligators were grey-coloured without any markings, and had for some time been wanting to change their colouring. Who acts: alligators, some. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., with its dependency tree
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 26

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At this time the alligators were grey-coloured without any markings, and had for some time been wanting to change their colouring.

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**Who acts:** alligators, some · **What happens:** be, have, want, change · **To what, where:** colouring

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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 (alligators, some), 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:pg70959:16:26
# text = At this time the alligators were grey-coloured without any markings, and had for some time been wanting to change their colouring.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	alligators	alligator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	coloured	coloured	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
10	without	without	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	markings	marking	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
16	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
17	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	nsubj	_	_
18	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl:unmarked	_	_
19	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	aux	_	_
20	wanting	want	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	ccomp	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	colouring	colouring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the alligators |  |  |  | time | without any markings; coloured *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **want** | participle · progressive | some |  |  |  | time |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **change** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | some *not said here* | alligators's colouring |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colouring=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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