--- title: For some time the people stood waiting for the enemy to appear, but… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: For some time the people stood waiting for the enemy to appear, but they saw no signs of anyone until the Elephantiasis rolled up to them, when the hare called out “The enemy has come.” Who acts: people, Elephantiasis, enemy. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Day --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/16/) [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/) / [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Change…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/) / 16 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 16 For some time the people stood waiting for the enemy to appear, but they saw no signs of anyone until the Elephantiasis rolled up to them, when the hare called out “The enemy has come.” **Who acts:** people, Elephantiasis, enemy · **What happens:** stand, wait, appear, see, roll up, call out · **To what, where:** signs, people, hare, anyone · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, Elephantiasis, enemy), 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:pg70959:19:16 # text = For some time the people stood waiting for the enemy to appear, but they saw no signs of anyone until the Elephantiasis rolled up to them, when the hare called out “The enemy has come.” 1 For for ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 3 det _ _ 3 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nsubj _ _ 6 stood stand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 waiting wait VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 6 xcomp _ _ 8 for for ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 enemy enemy NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 appear appear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 14 but but CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 15 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 16 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 17 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 18 det _ _ 18 signs sign NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obj _ _ 19 of of ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 anyone anyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 18 nmod _ _ 21 until until SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 Elephantiasis elephantiasis NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nsubj _ _ 24 rolled roll VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 advcl _ _ 25 up up ADP RP _ 24 compound:prt _ _ 26 to to ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 29 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 32 advmod _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 hare hare NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nsubj:pass _ _ 32 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 24 parataxis _ _ 33 out out ADP RP _ 32 compound:prt _ _ 34 “ " PUNCT `` _ 38 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 35 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 enemy enemy NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nsubj _ _ 37 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 38 come come VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 32 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 40 ” " PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **stand** | past | the people | | | | time | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **wait** | gerund | the people *not said here* | | | | | for the enemy | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **appear** | to-infinitive | the people *not said here* | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **see** | past | people | no signs of anyone | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer sign=Stimulus | | 5 | **roll up** | past | the Elephantiasis | | people | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to they=Destination | | 6 | **call out** *speech: assert* | participle · passive | | the hare | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 7 | **come** *in a quote* | present · perfect | the enemy | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **sign** | | | anyone | | | | | nom sign «communication transitive»: of=patient | 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 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/15/) - next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/17/) - ↑ back to [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/)