---
title: The woman then gave her husband a fish, and he told her to go to the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The woman then gave her husband a fish, and he told her to go to the place where he kept the animals he had killed and take whichever she fancied. Who acts: woman, husband, animals, wife. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 41

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The woman then gave her husband a fish, and he told her to go to the place where he kept the animals he had killed and take whichever she fancied.

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**Who acts:** woman, husband, animals, wife · **What happens:** give, tell, go, keep, kill, take · **To what, where:** husband, wife, place, animals, whichever · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, husband, animals, wife), 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:pg70959:25:41
# text = The woman then gave her husband a fish, and he told her to go to the place where he kept the animals he had killed and take whichever she fancied.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	iobj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
19	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	21	advmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
29	whichever	whichever	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
30	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	fancied	fancy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | the woman | husband | wife |  | then | a fish *obj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | husband |  | wife |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | husband *not said here* |  |  | the place |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to place=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **keep** | past | husband | the animals |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=Theme |
| 5 | **kill** | past · perfect · passive | the animals *not said here* | husband |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **take** | infinitive | husband *not said here* | whichever |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whichever=Theme |
| 7 | **fancy** | past | wife | whichever *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer whichever=Stimulus |

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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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