---
title: Ndere then said to her mother, “Tell me what you think I should do.” ’ — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Ndere then said to her mother, “Tell me what you think I should do.” ’ Who acts: Ndere, mother. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 28

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Ndere then said to her mother, “Tell me what you think I should do.” ’

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**Who acts:** Ndere, mother · **What happens:** say, tell, think, do · **To what, where:** mother, Ndere · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ndere, mother), 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:pg70959:24:28
# text = Ndere then said to her mother, “Tell me what you think I should do.” ’
1	Ndere	Ndere	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
10	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	iobj	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
19	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Ndere |  | Ndere's mother |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to mother=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  | Ndere |  |  | what *obj* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient what=Topic |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present | Ndere's mother *= mother* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **do** *in a quote* | should | Ndere |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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