---
title: Whenever the bush buck called out, one of the frogs was to answer hi… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Whenever the bush buck called out, one of the frogs was to answer him and pretend he had been running all the time. Who acts: FROG. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, with its dependency tree a
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 33

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Whenever the bush buck called out, one of the frogs was to answer him and pretend he had been running all the time.

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**Who acts:** FROG · **What happens:** call out, be, pretend, run · **To what, where:** bush buck

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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 (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:pg70959:21:33
# text = Whenever the bush buck called out, one of the frogs was to answer him and pretend he had been running all the time.
1	Whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	bush	bush	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	buck	buck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	conj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	frogs	frog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	answer	answer	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	pretend	pretend	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	aux	_	_
21	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	ccomp	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	24	det:predet	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call out** *speech: assert* | participle |  | the bush buck *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | FROG *obj*; answer *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **pretend** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **run** | past · perfect · progressive | FROG |  |  |  | time |  | 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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