Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 56
At length the hare became absolutely terrified, and kicked the rubber hard with one of his feet, which became as fast as his hands were, and very shortly the other foot also became caught up, so that he was held quite securely.
Who acts: hare, hands, other foot · What happens: become, kick, be, catch up, hold · To what, where: length, rubber, hare
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hare, hands, other foot), 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 | At | at | ADP | _ | 2 length | case |
| 2 | length | length | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 became | obl |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 hare | det |
| 4 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 became | nsubj |
| 5 | became | become | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | absolutely | absolutely | ADV | _ | 7 terrified | advmod |
| 7 | terrified | terrified | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 became | xcomp |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 kicked | punct |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 10 kicked | cc |
| 10 | kicked | kick | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 became | conj |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 rubber | det |
| 12 | rubber | rubber | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 kicked | obj |
| 13 | hard | hard | ADV | Degree=Pos | 10 kicked | advmod |
| 14 | with | with | ADP | _ | 15 one | case |
| 15 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 21 became | obl |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 18 feet | case |
| 17 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 feet | nmod:poss |
| 18 | feet | foot | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 became | obl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 became | punct |
| 20 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 21 became | nsubj |
| 21 | became | become | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 kicked | conj |
| 22 | as | as | ADV | _ | 23 fast | advmod |
| 23 | fast | fast | ADV | Degree=Pos | 21 became | advmod |
| 24 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 27 were | mark |
| 25 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 hands | nmod:poss |
| 26 | hands | hand | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 were | nsubj |
| 27 | were | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 fast | advcl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 became | punct |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 became | cc |
| 30 | very | very | ADV | _ | 31 shortly | advmod |
| 31 | shortly | shortly | ADV | _ | 34 foot | advmod |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 foot | det |
| 33 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 foot | amod |
| 34 | foot | foot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 became | nsubj |
| 35 | also | also | ADV | _ | 36 became | advmod |
| 36 | became | become | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 became | conj |
| 37 | caught | catch | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 36 became | xcomp |
| 38 | up | up | ADP | _ | 37 caught | compound:prt |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 held | punct |
| 40 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 44 held | mark |
| 41 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 40 so | fixed |
| 42 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 held | nsubj |
| 43 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 held | aux:pass |
| 44 | held | hold | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 36 became | conj |
| 45 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 46 securely | advmod |
| 46 | securely | securely | ADV | _ | 44 held | advmod |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 became | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | become | past | the hare | length | terrified property | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | |||
| 2 | kick | past | the hare not said here | the rubber | hard property | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent rubber=Patient | |||
| 3 | become | past | with one; of hare's feet; which nsubj; fast property | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | |||||
| 4 | be | past | hare's hands | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | become | past | the other foot | tree rules | |||||
| 6 | catch up | participle | the other foot not said here | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | hold | past · passive | hare | securely property | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/56/