---
title: The old crab was ready for him, and nipped him so severely with her… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The old crab was ready for him, and nipped him so severely with her sharp pincer-like claws that water came from his inside and he yelled with pain. Who acts: old crab, water, Elephantiasis. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young M
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 30

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The old crab was ready for him, and nipped him so severely with her sharp pincer-like claws that water came from his inside and he yelled with pain.

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**Who acts:** old crab, water, Elephantiasis · **What happens:** be, nip, come, yell · **To what, where:** Elephantiasis, sharp like claws, inside

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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 (old crab, water, Elephantiasis), 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:pg70959:19:30
# text = The old crab was ready for him, and nipped him so severely with her sharp pincer-like claws that water came from his inside and he yelled with pain.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	nipped	nip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	severely	severely	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
16	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
17	pincer	pincer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	like	like	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
21	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	obl	_	_
22	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	inside	inside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	yelled	yell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	pain	pain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the old crab |  |  |  |  | for Elephantiasis; ready *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **nip** | past | the old crab *not said here* | Elephantiasis |  |  |  | with crab's sharp like claws; severely *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location he=Theme |
| 3 | **come** | past | water | crab's sharp like claws |  | Elephantiasis's inside |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from inside=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **yell** *speech: express* | past | Elephantiasis |  |  |  |  | with pain | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=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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