--- title: At this he was rather surprised, as, although it is the custom for a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: At this he was rather surprised, as, although it is the custom for anyone near to help the women to put down their heavy loads when they come in from the farm, this would not be done with a light load like mushrooms. Who acts: husband, basket, anyone, women. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Sou --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/93/) [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/) / 93 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 93 At this he was rather surprised, as, although it is the custom for anyone near to help the women to put down their heavy loads when they come in from the farm, this would not be done with a light load like mushrooms. **Who acts:** husband, basket, anyone, women, loads · **What happens:** be, help, put down, come in, not do · **To what, where:** this, custom, women, heavy loads, farm 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 (husband, basket, anyone, women), 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:pg70959:4:94 # text = At this he was rather surprised, as, although it is the custom for anyone near to help the women to put down their heavy loads when they come in from the farm, this would not be done with a light load like mushrooms. 1 At at ADP IN _ 2 case _ _ 2 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 6 obl _ _ 3 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 5 rather rather ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 6 surprised surprised ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 8 as as SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 10 although although SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 11 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 12 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 14 cop _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 custom custom NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 15 for for ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 anyone anyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 19 nsubj _ _ 17 near near ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 18 to to PART TO _ 19 mark _ _ 19 help help VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 acl:relcl _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 women woman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obj _ _ 22 to to PART TO _ 23 mark _ _ 23 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 xcomp _ _ 24 down down ADP RP _ 23 compound:prt _ _ 25 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 26 heavy heavy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 loads load NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 obj _ _ 28 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 30 advmod _ _ 29 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 come come VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 advcl _ _ 31 in in ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 32 from from ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 farm farm NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 36 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 40 nsubj _ _ 37 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 38 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 40 advmod _ _ 39 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 40 aux:pass _ _ 40 done do VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 conj _ _ 41 with with ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 43 light light ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 load load NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ _ 45 like like ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 mushrooms mushroom NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | husband | | | this | | surprised *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **is a** | present | basket | the custom | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **help** | to-infinitive | anyone | the women | | | | near *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent woman=Beneficiary clause=Theme | | 4 | **put down** | to-infinitive | the women *not said here* | IGIRI's heavy loads | | | | | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent load=Goal | | 5 | **come in** | present | loads *= load* | | | the farm | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from farm=Initial\_Location | | 6 | **not** **do** | would · passive | | this | | | | with a light load like mushrooms | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | 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 92](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/92/) - next →: [sentence 94](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/94/) - ↑ 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/)