Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 18
But he had not gone far when his hunger tempted him to return and eat the fruit.
Who acts: python, hunger · What happens: not go, tempt, return, eat, hunger · To what, where: python, fruit
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (python, hunger), 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
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 5 gone | cc |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 gone | nsubj |
| 3 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 gone | aux |
| 4 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 5 gone | advmod |
| 5 | gone | go | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 6 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 10 tempted | advmod |
| 7 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 10 tempted | advmod |
| 8 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 hunger | nmod:poss |
| 9 | hunger | hunger | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 tempted | nsubj |
| 10 | tempted | tempt | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 gone | advcl |
| 11 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 tempted | obj |
| 12 | to | to | PART | _ | 13 return | mark |
| 13 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 tempted | xcomp |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 eat | cc |
| 15 | eat | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 return | conj |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 fruit | det |
| 17 | fruit | fruit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 eat | obj |
| 18 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 gone | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not go | past · perfect | python | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | tempt | past | python's hunger | python | far property | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | |||
| 3 | return | to-infinitive | python's hunger not said here | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | eat | infinitive | python's hunger not said here | the fruit | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Patient | ||||
| 5 | hunger | python | nom hunger «state intransitive»: poss=agent |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/22/18/