---
title: All this time the ants were busy building their house, and while the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: All this time the ants were busy building their house, and while the hare was eating his food the ants had covered half his tail and had bitten it through. Who acts: ants, hare. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Th
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 46

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All this time the ants were busy building their house, and while the hare was eating his food the ants had covered half his tail and had bitten it through.

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**Who acts:** ants, hare · **What happens:** be, build, eat, cover, bite · **To what, where:** house, food, ants, tail

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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 (ants, 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:pg70959:19:46
# text = All this time the ants were busy building their house, and while the hare was eating his food the ants had covered half his tail and had bitten it through.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	building	build	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	conj	_	_
24	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	26	det:predet	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	bitten	bite	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	through	through	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the ants |  |  |  | time | busy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **build** | gerund | the ants *not said here* | ants's house |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset house=Product |
| 3 | **eat** | past · progressive | the hare | hare's food |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient |
| 4 | **cover** | past · perfect · passive |  | the ants |  |  |  | hare's tail *obj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **bite** | past · perfect | the ants *not said here* | tail |  |  |  | through *property* | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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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