---
title: The alligator thought this a good plan, and agreed to what the hare… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The alligator thought this a good plan, and agreed to what the hare said, so he dug a pit and put the sharp sticks in the bottom. Who acts: alligator, hare, iguana. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., with its dependenc
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 52

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The alligator thought this a good plan, and agreed to what the hare said, so he dug a pit and put the sharp sticks in the bottom.

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**Who acts:** alligator, hare, iguana · **What happens:** think, agree, say, dig, put · **To what, where:** this, pit, sharp sticks, 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 (alligator, hare, iguana), 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:pg70959:16:52
# text = The alligator thought this a good plan, and agreed to what the hare said, so he dug a pit and put the sharp sticks in the bottom.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	alligator	alligator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	obj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	agreed	agree	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	obl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	dug	dig	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the alligator | this |  |  |  | a good plan *obj* | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent this=Theme plan=Attribute |
| 2 | **agree** *speech: agree* | participle | the alligator *not said here* |  |  |  |  | what *obl* | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the hare |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **dig** | past | iguana | a pit |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent pit=Theme |
| 5 | **put** | infinitive | iguana *not said here* | the sharp sticks |  | the bottom |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent stick=Theme in bottom=Destination |

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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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