---
title: The spider therefore ate his own share and the grasshopper’s as well… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The spider therefore ate his own share and the grasshopper’s as well, while the poor grasshopper sat down by himself, feeling very sad, and not speaking to anyone. Who acts: spider, poor grasshopper, grasshopper. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--h
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 24

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The spider therefore ate his own share and the grasshopper’s as well, while the poor grasshopper sat down by himself, feeling very sad, and not speaking to anyone.

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**Who acts:** spider, poor grasshopper, grasshopper · **What happens:** eat, sit down, feel, not speak, share · **To what, where:** own share · **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 (spider, poor grasshopper, 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:pg70959:6:24
# text = The spider therefore ate his own share and the grasshopper’s as well, while the poor grasshopper sat down by himself, feeling very sad, and not speaking to anyone.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	spider	spider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	share	share	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	grasshopper	grasshopper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADV	11	advmod	_	_
13	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	grasshopper	grasshopper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
20	down	down	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	feeling	feel	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
25	very	very	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	conj	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past | the spider | grasshopper's own share |  |  |  | therefore *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent share=Patient |
| 2 | **sit down** | past | the poor grasshopper |  |  |  |  | by grasshopper | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by himself=Location |
| 3 | **feel** | gerund | the poor grasshopper *not said here* |  |  |  |  | sad *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | gerund | the poor grasshopper *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to anyone | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to anyone=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **share** |  | grasshopper |  |  |  |  |  | nom share «possession transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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