--- title: Seeing that the canoe did not return, the alligator dived into the r… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Seeing that the canoe did not return, the alligator dived into the river and swam after the canoe, but before he could catch it the hare had jumped to the land and ran up the bank. Who acts: alligator, canoe, iguana. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/47/) [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/) / 47 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 47 Seeing that the canoe did not return, the alligator dived into the river and swam after the canoe, but before he could catch it the hare had jumped to the land and ran up the bank. **Who acts:** alligator, canoe, iguana · **What happens:** see, not return, dive, swim, catch, jump · **To what, where:** river, canoe, bank · **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 (alligator, canoe, iguana), 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:pg70959:16:47 # text = Seeing that the canoe did not return, the alligator dived into the river and swam after the canoe, but before he could catch it the hare had jumped to the land and ran up the bank. 1 Seeing see VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 11 advcl _ _ 2 that that SCONJ IN _ 7 mark _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 canoe canoe NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 5 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 6 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 7 advmod _ _ 7 return return VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 1 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 alligator alligator NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 11 dived dive VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 12 into into ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 16 swam swim VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 17 after after ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 canoe canoe NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 21 but but CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 22 before before SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 23 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 24 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 25 catch catch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 conj _ _ 26 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 obj _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 hare hare NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ _ 29 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 30 jumped jump VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 conj _ _ 31 to to ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 35 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 conj _ _ 36 up up ADP RP _ 35 compound:prt _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 bank bank NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 11 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | gerund | the alligator *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **not** **return** | past · do-support | the canoe | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **dive** | past | the alligator | | | the river | | | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into river=Location | | 4 | **swim** | past | the alligator *not said here* | | | | after the canoe | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **catch** | could | iguana | canoe | | | | the hare *obj* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary hare=Theme | | 6 | **jump** | past | iguana *not said here* | | | | | to the land *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to land=Result | | 7 | **run up** | past | iguana *not said here* | the bank | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme bank=Trajectory | 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 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/46/) - next →: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/48/) - ↑ back to [Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/16/)