---
title: The mother crab agreed, but told the hare that she had young ones in… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The mother crab agreed, but told the hare that she had young ones in one branch of the hole, and that he might go in and sit down in another part until the fight was over. Who acts: mother crab, crab, hare, fight. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 21

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The mother crab agreed, but told the hare that she had young ones in one branch of the hole, and that he might go in and sit down in another part until the fight was over.

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**Who acts:** mother crab, crab, hare, fight · **What happens:** agree, tell, have, go in, sit down, be · **To what, where:** hare, young ones, one branch, part · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (mother crab, crab, hare, fight), 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:pg70959:19:21
# text = The mother crab agreed, but told the hare that she had young ones in one branch of the hole, and that he might go in and sit down in another part until the fight was over.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	agreed	agree	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	iobj	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
13	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
27	in	in	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	conj	_	_
30	down	down	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	33	det	_	_
33	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	fight	fight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
38	over	over	ADV	RB	_	29	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **agree** *speech: agree* | participle | the mother crab |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the mother crab *not said here* |  | the hare |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent hare=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **have** | past | crab | young ones |  | one branch of the hole |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Patient |
| 4 | **go in** | might | hare |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **sit down** | infinitive | hare *not said here* |  |  | another part |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in part=Location |
| 6 | **is** | past | the fight |  |  |  |  | over *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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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