---
title: The hare had suggested to the king that Keroho should be told to dry… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The hare had suggested to the king that Keroho should be told to dry and guard the meat, and said to the king that, as Keroho only eat fruit, he would not be likely to steal any of the meat. Who acts: king, Keroho. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 20

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The hare had suggested to the king that Keroho should be told to dry and guard the meat, and said to the king that, as Keroho only eat fruit, he would not be likely to steal any of the meat.

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**Who acts:** king, Keroho · **What happens:** suggest, tell, dry, guard, say, eat · **To what, where:** hare, king, meat, fruit, any · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (king, Keroho), 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:pg70959:4:20
# text = The hare had suggested to the king that Keroho should be told to dry and guard the meat, and said to the king that, as Keroho only eat fruit, he would not be likely to steal any of the meat.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	suggested	suggest	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	Keroho	Keroho	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	dry	dry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	guard	guard	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	that	that	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Keroho	Keroho	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
29	only	only	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
31	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
34	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
35	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	cop	_	_
37	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	advcl	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	steal	steal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	_
40	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	39	obj	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suggest** *speech: suggest* | past · perfect · passive |  | the hare | the king |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to king=Recipient |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | should · passive |  | the king |  |  |  | Keroho *nsubj* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **dry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the king *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **guard** | infinitive | the king *not said here* | the meat |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | the king |  |  | that *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to king=Recipient |
| 6 | **eat** | present |  | fruit |  |  |  | as Keroho | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Patient |
| 7 | **not** **is** | would | Keroho |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **steal** | to-infinitive | Keroho *not said here* | any of the meat |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location any=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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