---
title: He then advised the alligator to dig a pit and put sharp stakes, wit… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He then advised the alligator to dig a pit and put sharp stakes, with their points upwards, in the bottom. Who acts: iguana, 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 pragmatics of
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 50

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He then advised the alligator to dig a pit and put sharp stakes, with their points upwards, in the bottom.

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**Who acts:** iguana, alligators · **What happens:** advise, dig, put, point · **To what, where:** alligator, pit, sharp stakes, bottom · **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 (iguana, 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:pg70959:16:50
# text = He then advised the alligator to dig a pit and put sharp stakes, with their points upwards, in the bottom.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	advised	advise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	alligator	alligator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	dig	dig	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	put	put	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
12	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	stakes	stake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	points	point	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	conj	_	_
18	upwards	upwards	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **advise** *speech: other* | past | iguana | the alligator |  |  | then |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S\_INF»: agent=Agent alligator=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **dig** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | a pit |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent pit=Theme |
| 3 | **put** | present |  | sharp stakes and alligators's points |  | the bottom |  | upwards *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent stake=Theme in bottom=Destination |
| 4 | **point** |  | alligators *= alligator* |  |  |  |  |  | nom point «cognition transitive»: poss=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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