---
title: She also gave him a sharp spear and told him that he was to spear th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: She also gave him a sharp spear and told him that he was to spear the bundle before he went near it as there was a crocodile hidden beneath the leaves. Who acts: chief, son, crocodile. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 40

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She also gave him a sharp spear and told him that he was to spear the bundle before he went near it as there was a crocodile hidden beneath the leaves.

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**Who acts:** chief, son, crocodile · **What happens:** give, tell, be, go, hide · **To what, where:** sharp spear, son, spear, crocodile, leaves · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (chief, son, crocodile), 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:pg70959:8:40
# text = She also gave him a sharp spear and told him that he was to spear the bundle before he went near it as there was a crocodile hidden beneath the leaves.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	also	also	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	iobj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	ccomp	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	bundle	bundle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	appos	_	_
18	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
21	near	near	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	25	expl	_	_
25	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	crocodile	crocodile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
28	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	acl	_	_
29	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | chief | a sharp spear | son |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient spear=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | chief *not said here* |  | son |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is a** *not said to happen* | past | son | spear |  |  |  | the bundle *appos* | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** | past | son | spear |  |  |  | near *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **be** | past | a crocodile |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **hide** | participle |  | a crocodile *not said here* |  | the leaves |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent beneath leaf=Location |

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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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