--- title: Seeing there was no one about, he took his outside skin off very qui… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Seeing there was no one about, he took his outside skin off very quickly and hung it up on a peg on the wall, making it look just like a living grasshopper; he then went out and joined the dancers. Who acts: grasshopper, skin. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Da --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/38/) [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/) / 38 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 38 Seeing there was no one about, he took his outside skin off very quickly and hung it up on a peg on the wall, making it look just like a living grasshopper; he then went out and joined the dancers. **Who acts:** grasshopper, skin · **What happens:** see, be, take off, hang up, make, look · **To what, where:** one, outside skin, skin, peg, dancers 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 (grasshopper, skin), 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:pg70959:6:38 # text = Seeing there was no one about, he took his outside skin off very quickly and hung it up on a peg on the wall, making it look just like a living grasshopper; he then went out and joined the dancers. 1 Seeing see VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 9 advcl _ _ 2 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 1 expl _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 5 det _ _ 5 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 obl _ _ 6 about about ADV RB _ 1 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 8 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 11 outside outside ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 skin skin NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 13 off off ADP RP _ 9 compound:prt _ _ 14 very very ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 15 quickly quickly ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 17 hung hang VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 18 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 obj _ _ 19 up up ADP RP _ 17 compound:prt _ _ 20 on on ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 peg peg NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ _ 23 on on ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 wall wall NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 27 making make VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 17 advcl _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ _ 29 look look VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 xcomp _ _ 30 just just ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 31 like like ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 32 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 33 living living NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 compound _ _ 34 grasshopper grasshopper NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 ; ; PUNCT : _ 38 punct _ _ 36 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 37 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 38 advmod _ _ 38 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 39 out out ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 41 joined join VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 conj _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 dancers dancer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 41 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | gerund | grasshopper *not said here* | | | there | | about *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **is a** | past | | no one | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **take off** | past | grasshopper | grasshopper's outside skin | | | | quickly *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Theme | | 4 | **hang up** | past | grasshopper *not said here* | skin | | a peg | | on the wall | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme on peg=Destination | | 5 | **make** | gerund | grasshopper *not said here* | skin | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **look** | infinitive | skin *not said here* | | | | | like a living grasshopper | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 7 | **go out** | past | grasshopper | | | | then | out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **join** | past | grasshopper *not said here* | the dancers | | | | | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dancer=Patient | 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 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/37/) - next →: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/39/) - ↑ back to [Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/)