---
title: It was late when Ode came back to the house, and he told his sister… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: It was late when Ode came back to the house, and he told his sister that he was sorry he could not fill the basket with water. Who acts: river, Ode, BROTHER. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., p
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 36

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It was late when Ode came back to the house, and he told his sister that he was sorry he could not fill the basket with water.

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**Who acts:** river, Ode, BROTHER · **What happens:** be, come back, tell, not fill · **To what, where:** sister, basket · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (river, Ode, BROTHER), 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:pg70959:26:36
# text = It was late when Ode came back to the house, and he told his sister that he was sorry he could not fill the basket with water.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
5	Ode	Ode	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	back	back	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	iobj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	ccomp	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	fill	fill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	basket	basket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | river |  |  |  |  | late *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **come back** | past | Ode |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | BROTHER |  | BROTHER's sister |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent sister=Recipient |
| 4 | **is** | past | BROTHER |  |  |  |  | sorry *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **fill** | could | BROTHER | the basket |  |  |  | with water | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent basket=Patient with water=Instrument |

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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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