---
title: His wife replied, “Only help me with the basket, and you shall then… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: His wife replied, “Only help me with the basket, and you shall then see what I have got.” Who acts: wife, you. 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 dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 96

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His wife replied, “Only help me with the basket, and you shall then see what I have got.”

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**Who acts:** wife, you · **What happens:** reply, help, see, get · **To what, where:** wife · **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 (wife, you), 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:pg70959:4:97
# text = His wife replied, “Only help me with the basket, and you shall then see what I have got.”
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
8	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	basket	basket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
17	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	21	obj	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | husband's wife |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **help** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  | husband's wife *= wife* |  |  | with the basket | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent i=Beneficiary with basket=Theme |
| 3 | **see** *in a quote* | shall | you |  |  |  | then |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **get** *in a quote* | present · perfect | husband's wife *= wife* |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |

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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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