---
title: When the mother crab returned vowing vengeance on the hare, she foun… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the mother crab returned vowing vengeance on the hare, she found he had gone and had taken her pot with the meat in it; and although she shouted to him several times to come back she got no answer. Who acts: mother crab, crab, hare. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elp
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 43

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When the mother crab returned vowing vengeance on the hare, she found he had gone and had taken her pot with the meat in it; and although she shouted to him several times to come back she got no answer.

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**Who acts:** mother crab, crab, hare · **What happens:** return, vow, find, go, take, shout · **To what, where:** vengeance, pot, hare, answer · **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), 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:pg70959:19:43
# text = When the mother crab returned vowing vengeance on the hare, she found he had gone and had taken her pot with the meat in it; and although she shouted to him several times to come back she got no answer.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
6	vowing	vow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	vengeance	vengeance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	conj	_	_
20	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
30	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	shouted	shout	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	_
34	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl:unmarked	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	advcl	_	_
38	back	back	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
39	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	advcl	_	_
41	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	42	det	_	_
42	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | the mother crab |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **vow** | gerund | the mother crab *not said here* | vengeance |  |  |  | on the hare | tree rules |
| 3 | **find** | past | crab |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **go** | past · perfect | hare |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **take** | past · perfect | hare *not said here* | crab's pot |  |  |  | with the meat in pot | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pot=Theme |
| 6 | **shout** *speech: express* | past | crab |  | hare |  | time |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |
| 7 | **come back** | to-infinitive | crab *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **get** | past | crab | no answer |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer answer=Stimulus |

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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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