---
title: The frog then took his beautiful wife to his house near the spring,… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The frog then took his beautiful wife to his house near the spring, where they had a big play; and after the dancing was over the frog gave all the members of his company who had helped him to win the race quantities of food and tombo, which had been prepared for them. Who acts: frog, people, compan
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 46

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The frog then took his beautiful wife to his house near the spring, where they had a big play; and after the dancing was over the frog gave all the members of his company who had helped him to win the race quantities of food and tombo, which had been prepared for them.

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**Who acts:** frog, people, company, members · **What happens:** take, have, be, help, win, prepare · **To what, where:** beautiful wife, house, big play, FROG, race quantities, food

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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, people, company, members), 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:pg70959:21:46
# text = The frog then took his beautiful wife to his house near the spring, where they had a big play; and after the dancing was over the frog gave all the members of his company who had helped him to win the race quantities of food and tombo, which had been prepared for them.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	near	near	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	17	advmod	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
23	after	after	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	dancing	dancing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
27	over	over	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
31	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	33	det:predet	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	members	member	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
38	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	_
39	helped	help	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	parataxis	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	win	win	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	xcomp	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	compound	_	_
45	quantities	quantity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	tombo	tombo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	54	nsubj:pass	_	_
52	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
53	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	54	aux:pass	_	_
54	prepared	prepare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	acl	_	_
55	for	for	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | the frog | FROG's beautiful wife |  | FROG's house | then; spring |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent wife=Theme to house=Destination |
| 2 | **have** | past | people | a big play |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent play=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | the frog |  |  |  | after the dancing | give *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | FROG's company |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **help** | past | all members of FROG's company | FROG |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 6 | **win** | to-infinitive | FROG *not said here* | the race quantities of food and tombo |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quantity=Eventuality |
| 7 | **prepare** | past · perfect · passive |  | food and tombo |  |  |  | for people | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Product for they=Beneficiary |

<!-- .note -->
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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