---
title: The first day they went to the farm the little boy got his food down… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The first day they went to the farm the little boy got his food down and eat it, but did not notice that a small boy from the neighbouring town was watching him. Who acts: IGIRI, little boy, small boy. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning H
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 104

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The first day they went to the farm the little boy got his food down and eat it, but did not notice that a small boy from the neighbouring town was watching him.

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**Who acts:** IGIRI, little boy, small boy · **What happens:** go, get down, eat, not notice, watch · **To what, where:** farm, food, chief

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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 (IGIRI, little boy, small boy), 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:pg70959:4:105
# text = The first day they went to the farm the little boy got his food down and eat it, but did not notice that a small boy from the neighbouring town was watching him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	down	down	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	notice	notice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	neighbouring	neighbouring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | IGIRI |  |  | the farm | day |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to farm=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **get down** | past | the little boy | boy's food |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **eat** | present | the little boy *not said here* | food |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **notice** | past · do-support | IGIRI *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **watch** | past · progressive | a small boy from the neighbouring town | chief |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

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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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