---
title: The hare acknowledged that he had done wrong, but asked the alligato… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The hare acknowledged that he had done wrong, but asked the alligator not to kill him at once, as his body was so small it would not be worth eating. Who acts: hare, iguana, body. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., wit
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 49

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The hare acknowledged that he had done wrong, but asked the alligator not to kill him at once, as his body was so small it would not be worth eating.

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**Who acts:** hare, iguana, body · **What happens:** acknowledge, do, ask, not kill, be, not be · **To what, where:** alligator, iguana · **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 (hare, iguana, body), 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:pg70959:16:49
# text = The hare acknowledged that he had done wrong, but asked the alligator not to kill him at once, as his body was so small it would not be worth eating.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	acknowledged	acknowledge	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	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
8	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	alligator	alligator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	parataxis	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	cop	_	_
31	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	parataxis	_	_
32	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **acknowledge** | past | the hare |  |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | past · perfect | iguana |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the hare *not said here* |  | the alligator |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent alligator=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **kill** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | iguana |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | iguana's body |  |  |  |  | small *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **is** | would | body |  |  |  |  | worth *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **eat** | gerund | body *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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