--- title: The boy was always left at home, but the woman prepared food for him… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: The boy was always left at home, but the woman prepared food for him and placed it high up over the fireplace, and showed the boy how to get at it by standing on a native-made box. Who acts: woman. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/103/) [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/) / [Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tor…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/) / 103 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 103 The boy was always left at home, but the woman prepared food for him and placed it high up over the fireplace, and showed the boy how to get at it by standing on a native-made box. **Who acts:** woman · **What happens:** leave, prepare, place, show, get, stand · **To what, where:** boy, home, food, fireplace, made box · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman), 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:pg70959:4:104 # text = The boy was always left at home, but the woman prepared food for him and placed it high up over the fireplace, and showed the boy how to get at it by standing on a native-made box. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj:pass _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux:pass _ _ 4 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 5 advmod _ _ 5 left leave VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 6 at at ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 home home NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 but but CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ _ 12 prepared prepare VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 13 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 14 for for ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 obl _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 17 placed place VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 18 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 obj _ _ 19 high high ADV RB Degree=Pos 20 advmod _ _ 20 up up ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 21 over over ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 fireplace fireplace NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 26 showed show VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 31 advmod _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 31 mark _ _ 31 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 ccomp _ _ 32 at at ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 obl _ _ 34 by by SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 35 standing stand VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 31 advcl _ _ 36 on on ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 38 native native ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 39 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 38 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 40 made make VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 amod _ _ 41 box box NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **leave** | past · passive | | the boy | | home | | always *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme at home=Location | | 2 | **prepare** | past | the woman | food | | | | for boy | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent food=Product for he=Beneficiary | | 3 | **place** | past | the woman *not said here* | food | | the fireplace | | | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme over fireplace=Destination | | 4 | **show** | past | the woman *not said here* | the boy | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent boy=Recipient clause=Topic | | 5 | **get** | to-infinitive | | | | fireplace | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **stand** | gerund | | | | a made box | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on box=Location | | 7 | **make** | participle | | | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset | 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 102](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/102/) - next →: [sentence 104](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/104/) - ↑ back to [Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/)