--- title: As she had nothing to give them to eat, she at last thought of her f… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: As she had nothing to give them to eat, she at last thought of her father’s goat, which was being kept for her, but she dared not kill it while her brother Ode was in the house. Who acts: ESSAMA, brother. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Ke --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/31/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/) / 31 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 31 As she had nothing to give them to eat, she at last thought of her father’s goat, which was being kept for her, but she dared not kill it while her brother Ode was in the house. **Who acts:** ESSAMA, brother · **What happens:** have, give, eat, keep, kill, be · **To what, where:** nothing, goats, last thought, thought, house, goat 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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ESSAMA, brother), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:26:31 # text = As she had nothing to give them to eat, she at last thought of her father’s goat, which was being kept for her, but she dared not kill it while her brother Ode was in the house. 1 As as SCONJ IN _ 3 mark _ _ 2 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 3 obj _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 acl _ _ 7 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 iobj _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 eat eat VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 11 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 12 at at ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 thought thought NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 conj _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 16 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 17 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 18 ’s 's PART POS _ 17 case _ _ 19 goat goat NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 21 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 24 obj _ _ 22 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux:pass _ _ 23 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 24 aux:pass _ _ 24 kept keep VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 14 parataxis _ _ 25 for for ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 28 but but CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 29 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 30 dared dare VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 31 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 30 advmod _ _ 32 kill kill VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 conj _ _ 33 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 obj _ _ 34 while while SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 35 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 brother brother NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nsubj _ _ 37 Ode Ode PROPN NNP Number=Sing 36 appos _ _ 38 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 cop _ _ 39 in in ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | ESSAMA | nothing | | | | last thought ESSAMA of ESSAMA's father's goat *conj* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient | | 2 | **give** | to-infinitive | ESSAMA *not said here* | nothing *not said here* | goats *= goat* | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 3 | **eat** | to-infinitive | ESSAMA *not said here* | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **keep** | past · passive | | last thought ESSAMA of ESSAMA's father's goat | | | | for ESSAMA | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: which=Theme | | 5 | **kill** | past | ESSAMA | thought | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 6 | **is** | past | ESSAMA's brother | | | the house | | | tree rules | | 7 | **think** | | | ESSAMA's father's goat | | | | | nom thought «cognition transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/30/) - next →: [sentence 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/32/) - ↑ back to [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/)