---
title: He then began to gather the palm nuts, and to fill up his bag. — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He then began to gather the palm nuts, and to fill up his bag. Who acts: plenty. 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 every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 9

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He then began to gather the palm nuts, and to fill up his bag.

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**Who acts:** plenty · **What happens:** begin, gather, fill up · **To what, where:** palm nuts, bag

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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 (plenty), 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:pg70959:16:9
# text = He then began to gather the palm nuts, and to fill up his bag.
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	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	gather	gather	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	nuts	nut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	fill	fill	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
13	up	up	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | plenty |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **gather** | to-infinitive | plenty *not said here* | the palm nuts |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nut=Theme |
| 3 | **fill up** | to-infinitive |  | plenty's bag |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent bag=Patient |

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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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