---
title: The old alligators told the hare that he had painted their son very… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The old alligators told the hare that he had painted their son very well, and they were pleased. Who acts: old alligators, young, alligators. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 32

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The old alligators told the hare that he had painted their son very well, and they were pleased.

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**Who acts:** old alligators, young, alligators · **What happens:** tell, paint, be · **To what, where:** hare, son · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (old alligators, young, alligators), 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:pg70959:16:32
# text = The old alligators told the hare that he had painted their son very well, and they were pleased.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	alligators	alligator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	iobj	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	painted	paint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	ccomp	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	very	very	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	pleased	pleased	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the old alligators |  | the hare |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent hare=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **paint** | past · perfect | young | alligators's son |  |  |  | well *property* | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent son=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | alligators *= alligator* |  |  |  |  | pleased *property* | tree rules |

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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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