---
title: On these occasions the elephant always entertained the animals, and… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: On these occasions the elephant always entertained the animals, and when the work was finished the elephant gave them food. Who acts: elephant. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., with its dependency tree and
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 3

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On these occasions the elephant always entertained the animals, and when the work was finished the elephant gave them food.

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**Who acts:** elephant · **What happens:** entertain, finish, give · **To what, where:** animals, occasions, work, food

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elephant), 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:pg70959:22:3
# text = On these occasions the elephant always entertained the animals, and when the work was finished the elephant gave them food.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	occasions	occasion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	7	advmod	_	_
7	entertained	entertain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	iobj	_	_
21	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **entertain** | past | the elephant | the animals |  | this occasions |  | always *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus animal=Experiencer |
| 2 | **finish** | past · passive |  | the work |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **give** | past | the elephant | food | animals *= animal* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient food=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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