--- title: The next day the alligators built the house, and did everything the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: The next day the alligators built the house, and did everything the hare told them, a small hole being left in the wall of the house so that the hare could show the alligators each child as he painted it. Who acts: alligators, hare, hole. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by El --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/29/) [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/) / 29 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 29 The next day the alligators built the house, and did everything the hare told them, a small hole being left in the wall of the house so that the hare could show the alligators each child as he painted it. **Who acts:** alligators, hare, hole · **What happens:** build, do, tell, leave, show, paint · **To what, where:** house, everything, alligators, small hole, wall, child · **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 (alligators, hare, hole), 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:pg70959:16:29 # text = The next day the alligators built the house, and did everything the hare told them, a small hole being left in the wall of the house so that the hare could show the alligators each child as he painted it. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 next next ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl:unmarked _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 alligators alligator NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nsubj _ _ 6 built build VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 12 everything everything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 11 obj _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 hare hare NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ _ 15 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 parataxis _ _ 16 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 iobj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 hole hole NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nsubj:pass _ _ 21 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 22 aux:pass _ _ 22 left leave VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 15 conj _ _ 23 in in ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 wall wall NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod _ _ 29 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 34 mark _ _ 30 that that SCONJ IN _ 29 fixed _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 hare hare NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 33 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 show show VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 advcl _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 alligators alligator NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obj _ _ 37 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 38 det _ _ 38 child child NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 39 as as SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 40 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 painted paint VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 advcl _ _ 42 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **build** | past | the alligators | the house | | | day | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Product | | 2 | **do** | past | the alligators *not said here* | everything | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent everything=Eventuality | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the hare | | alligators *= alligator* | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient | | 4 | **leave** | gerund · passive | | a small hole | | the wall of the house | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in wall=Location | | 5 | **show** | could | the hare | each child | the alligators | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent alligator=Recipient child=Topic | | 6 | **paint** | past | hole | house | | | | | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Destination | 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 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/28/) - next →: [sentence 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/30/) - ↑ back to [Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/)