---
title: Inkang therefore said to his wife, “What have you put in the basket… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Inkang therefore said to his wife, “What have you put in the basket to make it so heavy that you want me to help you down with it? Who acts: Inkang, wife. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.,
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 94

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Inkang therefore said to his wife, “What have you put in the basket to make it so heavy that you want me to help you down with it?

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**Who acts:** Inkang, wife · **What happens:** say, put, make, want, help down · **To what, where:** wife, basket, Inkang · **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 (Inkang, wife), 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:pg70959:4:95
# text = Inkang therefore said to his wife, “What have you put in the basket to make it so heavy that you want me to help you down with it?
1	Inkang	Inkang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	obj	_	_
10	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
12	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	basket	basket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
24	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	down	down	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | Inkang |  | husband's wife |  |  | therefore *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to wife=Recipient |
| 2 | **put** *in a quote* | present · perfect | Inkang *not said here* |  |  | the basket |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in basket=Destination |
| 3 | **make** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Inkang *not said here* | basket |  |  |  | heavy *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product |
| 4 | **want** *in a quote* | present | husband's wife *= wife* | Inkang |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **help down** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | Inkang *not said here* |  | husband's wife *= wife* |  |  | with basket | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent you=Beneficiary with it=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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