---
title: The woman placed her load in the forked branches of a tree near the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The woman placed her load in the forked branches of a tree near the stream, and, stepping into the pool, commenced to drink out of her hands. Who acts: woman, stepping. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 65

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The woman placed her load in the forked branches of a tree near the stream, and, stepping into the pool, commenced to drink out of her hands.

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**Who acts:** woman, stepping · **What happens:** place, fork, step, commence, drink out · **To what, where:** load, forked branches, pool, hands

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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, stepping), 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:pg70959:25:65
# text = The woman placed her load in the forked branches of a tree near the stream, and, stepping into the pool, commenced to drink out of her hands.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	load	load	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	forked	fork	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	near	near	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	stepping	step	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	csubj:pass	_	_
20	into	into	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	pool	pool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	commenced	commence	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	out	out	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | past | the woman | stream's load |  | the forked branches of a tree near the stream |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent load=Theme in branch=Destination |
| 2 | **fork** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **step** | gerund |  |  |  | the pool |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into pool=Destination |
| 4 | **commence** | participle | stepping |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **drink out** | to-infinitive | stepping *not said here* | stream's hands |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |

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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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