--- title: Now, in those days there was a big snake who used to live on the lan… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Now, in those days there was a big snake who used to live on the land, and when he grew to be as long as a palm oil tree is high, he forsook the land and lived in the small creeks and rivers, where he grew to a tremendous size. Who acts: big snake, snake, oil tree. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories f --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/81/) [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/) / [Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inku…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/) / 81 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 81 Now, in those days there was a big snake who used to live on the land, and when he grew to be as long as a palm oil tree is high, he forsook the land and lived in the small creeks and rivers, where he grew to a tremendous size. **Who acts:** big snake, snake, oil tree · **What happens:** be, use, live, grow, forsake · **To what, where:** land, small creeks This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (big snake, snake, oil tree), 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:pg70959:7:81 # text = Now, in those days there was a big snake who used to live on the land, and when he grew to be as long as a palm oil tree is high, he forsook the land and lived in the small creeks and rivers, where he grew to a tremendous size. 1 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 7 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 3 in in ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 5 det _ _ 5 days day NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obl _ _ 6 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 7 expl _ _ 7 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 snake snake NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 11 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 12 nsubj _ _ 12 used use VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 acl:relcl _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 live live VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 xcomp _ _ 15 on on ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 20 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 22 advmod _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 grew grow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 advcl _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 24 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 26 cop _ _ 25 as as ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 26 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 22 advmod _ _ 27 as as SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 29 palm palm NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 compound _ _ 30 oil oil NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 compound _ _ 31 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nsubj _ _ 32 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 33 cop _ _ 33 high high ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 forsook forsake VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 40 lived live VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 conj _ _ 41 in in ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 43 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 creeks creek NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 obl _ _ 45 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 46 rivers river NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 48 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 50 advmod _ _ 49 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 nsubj _ _ 50 grew grow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 44 conj _ _ 51 to to ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 52 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 53 tremendous tremendous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 54 amod _ _ 54 size size NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 55 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** | past | a big snake | | | there | now; day | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **use** | past | a big snake | | | | | | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 3 | **live** | to-infinitive | a big snake *not said here* | | | the land | | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on land=Location | | 4 | **grow** | past | snake | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **is** | to-infinitive | | | | | | long *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **is** | present | a oil tree | | | | | high *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **forsake** | past | snake | the land | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **live** | past | snake *not said here* | | | the small creeks and rivers | | | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in creek=Location | | 9 | **grow** | past | snake | | | | | to a tremendous size | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/80/) - next →: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/82/) - ↑ back to [Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/7/)