--- title: At this the grasshopper could contain himself no longer, and burst i… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: At this the grasshopper could contain himself no longer, and burst into tears saying, “Three days ago, when we left our home, the spider asked me to call him ‘Stranger’ and said he would call me ‘Dabi.’ Who acts: we, spider, grasshopper. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elp --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/27/) [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/) / [Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Sp…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/) / 27 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 27 At this the grasshopper could contain himself no longer, and burst into tears saying, “Three days ago, when we left our home, the spider asked me to call him ‘Stranger’ and said he would call me ‘Dabi.’ **Who acts:** we, spider, grasshopper · **What happens:** contain, burst, say, leave, ask, call · **To what, where:** grasshopper, tears, home, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (we, spider, grasshopper), 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:pg70959:6:27 # text = At this the grasshopper could contain himself no longer, and burst into tears saying, “Three days ago, when we left our home, the spider asked me to call him ‘Stranger’ and said he would call me ‘Dabi.’ 1 At at ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 2 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 4 det _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 grasshopper grasshopper NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 5 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 6 contain contain VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 6 obj _ _ 8 no no ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _ 9 longer long ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 6 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 burst burst VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 13 into into ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 tears tear NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl _ _ 15 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 12 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 17 “ " PUNCT `` _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 18 Three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 19 nummod _ _ 19 days day NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 obl:unmarked _ _ 20 ago ago ADV RB _ 15 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 22 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 24 advmod _ _ 23 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 left leave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 parataxis _ _ 25 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 home home NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 spider spider NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nsubj _ _ 30 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 conj _ _ 31 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 30 iobj _ _ 32 to to PART TO _ 33 mark _ _ 33 call call VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 xcomp _ _ 34 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 obj _ _ 35 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 Stranger stranger NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 37 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 36 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 39 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 40 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 41 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 42 call call VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 ccomp _ _ 43 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ _ 44 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 45 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 Dabi Dabi PROPN NNP Number=Sing 42 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **contain** | could | | grasshopper | | | | at this grasshopper; long *property* | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot himself=Theme | | 2 | **burst** | past | | | | tears | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **leave** *in a quote* | past | we | our home | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent home=Theme | | 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | past | the spider | | me | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic | | 6 | **call** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | the spider *not said here* | | grasshopper | | | Stranger *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 7 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 8 | **call** *in a quote* | would | grasshopper | | me | | | Dabi *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient | 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 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/26/) - next →: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/28/) - ↑ back to [Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/)