---
title: Now the spider wanted to go some distance from his house to marry a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the spider wanted to go some distance from his house to marry a wife in a strange country, so he called upon his friend the grasshopper to accompany him. Who acts: spider, grasshopper. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out:
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 3

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Now the spider wanted to go some distance from his house to marry a wife in a strange country, so he called upon his friend the grasshopper to accompany him.

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**Who acts:** spider, grasshopper · **What happens:** want, go, marry, call, accompany · **To what, where:** distance, house, wife, strange country, grasshopper · **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, 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:pg70959:6:3
# text = Now the spider wanted to go some distance from his house to marry a wife in a strange country, so he called upon his friend the grasshopper to accompany him.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	spider	spider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
24	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	grasshopper	grasshopper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	xcomp	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	accompany	accompany	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	acl	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | the spider |  |  |  | now |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the spider *not said here* | some distance |  | grasshopper's house |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location distance=Theme |
| 3 | **marry** | to-infinitive | the spider *not said here* | a wife |  | a strange country |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |
| 4 | **call** | past | grasshopper | the grasshopper |  |  |  | upon grasshopper's friend | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **accompany** | to-infinitive | grasshopper *not said here* | grasshopper |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

<!-- .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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