--- title: Then the Queen of the White Ants asked her what she could do to help… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Then the Queen of the White Ants asked her what she could do to help her. Who acts: Queen. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/19/) [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/) / [Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/) / 19 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 19 Then the Queen of the White Ants asked her what she could do to help her. **Who acts:** Queen · **What happens:** ask, do, help · **To what, where:** chief This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Queen), 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:pg70959:8:19 # text = Then the Queen of the White Ants asked her what she could do to help her. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 8 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 Queen Queen PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 White white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 Ants Ant PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 3 nmod _ _ 8 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 iobj _ _ 10 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 13 obj _ _ 11 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 12 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 13 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 xcomp _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 help help VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 advcl _ _ 16 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the Queen of the White Ants | | chief | | then | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **do** *not said to happen* | could | Queen | | | | | what *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality | | 3 | **help** | to-infinitive | Queen *not said here* | | chief | | | | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Beneficiary | 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 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/18/) - next →: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/20/) - ↑ back to [Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/)