---
title: Ndere, hearing of this, went to the stream with a basket, and the fi… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Ndere, hearing of this, went to the stream with a basket, and the fish seeing her, came close, so she began to sing softly to them, when more fish came. Who acts: Ndere, fish, more fish, this. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daugh
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 12

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Ndere, hearing of this, went to the stream with a basket, and the fish seeing her, came close, so she began to sing softly to them, when more fish came.

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**Who acts:** Ndere, fish, more fish, this · **What happens:** go, see, come, begin, sing, hear · **To what, where:** stream, fish, people

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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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ndere, fish, more fish, this), 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:pg70959:25:12
# text = Ndere, hearing of this, went to the stream with a basket, and the fish seeing her, came close, so she began to sing softly to them, when more fish came.
1	Ndere	Ndere	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	hearing	hearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
7	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	basket	basket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
18	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	acl	_	_
19	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
21	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
22	close	close	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	36	mark	_	_
34	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	35	amod	_	_
35	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
36	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Ndere |  |  | the stream |  | with a basket | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to stream=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **see** | gerund | the fish *not said here* | fish |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |
| 3 | **come** | past | the fish |  |  |  |  | close *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **begin** | past | fish |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **sing** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | fish *not said here* |  | people |  |  | softly *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient |
| 6 | **come** | past | more fish |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **hear** |  | this |  |  |  |  |  | nom hearing «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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