---
title: Now, the porcupine was a lot caster, and when he had cast lots he de… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, the porcupine was a lot caster, and when he had cast lots he decided that the best thing that Awu could do was to go to a house and lie down, pretending to be dead. Who acts: porcupine, Awu, best thing. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, E. Dayrell.,
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, E. Dayrell., sentence 32

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Now, the porcupine was a lot caster, and when he had cast lots he decided that the best thing that Awu could do was to go to a house and lie down, pretending to be dead.

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**Who acts:** porcupine, Awu, best thing · **What happens:** be, cast, decide, do, lie down, pretend · **To what, where:** lot caster, lots, best thing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, E. Dayrell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (porcupine, Awu, best thing), 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:pg70959:3:32
# text = Now, the porcupine was a lot caster, and when he had cast lots he decided that the best thing that Awu could do was to go to a house and lie down, pretending to be dead.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	porcupine	porcupine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	caster	caster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	cast	cast	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
15	lots	lot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	decided	decide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	21	amod	_	_
21	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj:outer	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	obj	_	_
23	Awu	Awu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
24	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	acl:relcl	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
34	down	down	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	pretending	pretend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	advcl	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
38	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	cop	_	_
39	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the porcupine | a lot caster |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **cast** | past · perfect | porcupine | lots |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lot=Product |
| 3 | **decide** | past | porcupine |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **do** | could | Awu | the best thing |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality |
| 5 | **is** *not said to happen* | past | the best thing |  |  |  |  | to a house; go *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **lie down** | infinitive | the best thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **pretend** | gerund | the best thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | to-infinitive | the best thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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- ↑ back to [E. Dayrell.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/3/)