---
title: When the food was ready the spider said to his friend, “Come on, Dab… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the food was ready the spider said to his friend, “Come on, Dabi, let us go and dance.” Who acts: food, ready spider, us. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., with its dependency tree and
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 35

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When the food was ready the spider said to his friend, “Come on, Dabi, let us go and dance.”

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**Who acts:** food, ready spider, us · **What happens:** be, say, come on, let, go, dance · **To what, where:** friend, Dabi, us · **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 (food, ready spider, us), 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:pg70959:6:35
# text = When the food was ready the spider said to his friend, “Come on, Dabi, let us go and dance.”
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	spider	spider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	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	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
15	on	on	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	Dabi	Dabi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
20	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the food |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the ready spider |  | son's friend |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to friend=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **come on** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | Dabi |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **dance** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «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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