---
title: The grasshopper longed to eat the food, but did not see how he could… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The grasshopper longed to eat the food, but did not see how he could manage it, as he was known as Dabi, and his name was never called. Who acts: grasshopper. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshoppe
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 23

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The grasshopper longed to eat the food, but did not see how he could manage it, as he was known as Dabi, and his name was never called.

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**Who acts:** grasshopper · **What happens:** long, eat, not see, manage, know, not call · **To what, where:** food, grasshopper, name · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grasshopper), 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:pg70959:6:23
# text = The grasshopper longed to eat the food, but did not see how he could manage it, as he was known as Dabi, and his name was never called.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	grasshopper	grasshopper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	longed	long	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
13	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	manage	manage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	parataxis	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	Dabi	Dabi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
30	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **long** | past | the grasshopper |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the grasshopper *not said here* | the food |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **see** | past · do-support | the grasshopper *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **manage** | could | grasshopper | food |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 5 | **know** | past · passive |  | grasshopper |  |  |  | as Dabi | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus as dabi=Attribute |
| 6 | **not** **call** | past · passive |  | grasshopper's name |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 7 | **name** |  | grasshopper |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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