---
title: At this all the other frogs laughed, and said that the bush buck wou… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: At this all the other frogs laughed, and said that the bush buck would have finished the course before the frog had jumped one pace. Who acts: other frogs, frog. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 26

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At this all the other frogs laughed, and said that the bush buck would have finished the course before the frog had jumped one pace.

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**Who acts:** other frogs, frog · **What happens:** laugh, say, finish, have, jump · **To what, where:** this, bush buck, one pace · **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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (other frogs, frog), 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:pg70959:21:26
# text = At this all the other frogs laughed, and said that the bush buck would have finished the course before the frog had jumped one pace.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	obl	_	_
3	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	frogs	frog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	buck	buck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux	_	_
17	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	ccomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
24	jumped	jump	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
25	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	nummod	_	_
26	pace	pace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **laugh** | past | all other frogs |  |  | this |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | all other frogs *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **finish** | would · perfect · passive |  | the bush buck |  |  |  | the course *obj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | the frog |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **jump** | past | the frog *not said here* | one pace |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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