---
title: Early in the morning of the third day the spider told his father-in-… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Early in the morning of the third day the spider told his father-in-law that he was going home, and that he would leave his wife for a time, and come back for her later. Who acts: spider, grasshopper. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Frien
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 33

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Early in the morning of the third day the spider told his father-in-law that he was going home, and that he would leave his wife for a time, and come back for her later.

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**Who acts:** spider, grasshopper · **What happens:** tell, go, leave, come back · **To what, where:** father, wife · **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:pg70959:6:33
# text = Early in the morning of the third day the spider told his father-in-law that he was going home, and that he would leave his wife for a time, and come back for her later.
1	Early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	amod	_	_
8	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	spider	spider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	ccomp	_	_
22	home	home	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
37	back	back	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
38	for	for	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the spider |  | grasshopper's father in law |  | morning |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent father=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | past · progressive | grasshopper |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **leave** | would | grasshopper | grasshopper's wife |  |  | time |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Theme |
| 4 | **come back** | infinitive | grasshopper *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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