---
title: The big wooden drum was then beaten, and when all the animals had co… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The big wooden drum was then beaten, and when all the animals had come together the bush cat was put upon his defence. Who acts: animals, cat. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., with its de
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 15

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The big wooden drum was then beaten, and when all the animals had come together the bush cat was put upon his defence.

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**Who acts:** animals, cat · **What happens:** beat, come together, put, defend · **To what, where:** big wooden drum, bush cat, defence

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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 (animals, cat), 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:pg70959:4:15
# text = The big wooden drum was then beaten, and when all the animals had come together the bush cat was put upon his defence.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
6	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
7	beaten	beat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
11	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	13	det:predet	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
16	together	together	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	bush	bush	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
22	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	defence	defence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beat** | past · passive |  | the big wooden drum |  |  | then |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **come together** | past · perfect | all animals |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **put** | past · passive |  | the bush cat |  | cat's defence |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme upon defence=Destination |
| 4 | **defend** |  | cat |  |  |  |  |  | nom defence «process transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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