Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 42
The spider could not understand how it was that the grasshopper had managed to get back to the play so quickly, but, as he saw him there, he was too hungry to trouble much about that, and went back again to get the food he was so much in need of.
Who acts: spider, grasshopper · What happens: not understand, manage, get back, see, be, go back · To what, where: food, Dabi · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (spider, grasshopper), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 spider | det |
| 2 | spider | spider | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 understand | nsubj |
| 3 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 understand | aux |
| 4 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 5 understand | advmod |
| 5 | understand | understand | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 13 managed | advmod |
| 7 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 managed | nsubj:pass |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 managed | aux:pass |
| 9 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 13 managed | mark |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 grasshopper | det |
| 11 | grasshopper | grasshopper | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 managed | nsubj:pass |
| 12 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 managed | aux |
| 13 | managed | manage | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 understand | ccomp |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 get | mark |
| 15 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 managed | xcomp |
| 16 | back | back | ADV | _ | 15 get | advmod |
| 17 | to | to | ADP | _ | 19 play | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 play | det |
| 19 | play | play | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 back | obl |
| 20 | so | so | ADV | _ | 21 quickly | advmod |
| 21 | quickly | quickly | ADV | _ | 15 get | advmod |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 saw | punct |
| 23 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 27 saw | cc |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 saw | punct |
| 25 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 27 saw | mark |
| 26 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 saw | nsubj |
| 27 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 understand | conj |
| 28 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 saw | obj |
| 29 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 27 saw | advmod |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 hungry | punct |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 hungry | nsubj |
| 32 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 hungry | cop |
| 33 | too | too | ADV | _ | 34 hungry | advmod |
| 34 | hungry | hungry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 understand | parataxis |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 trouble | mark |
| 36 | trouble | trouble | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 hungry | advcl |
| 37 | much | much | ADV | _ | 34 hungry | advmod |
| 38 | about | about | ADP | _ | 39 that | case |
| 39 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 34 hungry | obl |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 went | punct |
| 41 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 42 went | cc |
| 42 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 understand | parataxis |
| 43 | back | back | ADV | _ | 42 went | advmod |
| 44 | again | again | ADV | _ | 42 went | advmod |
| 45 | to | to | PART | _ | 46 get | mark |
| 46 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 42 went | advcl |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 food | det |
| 48 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 get | obj |
| 49 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 52 much | nsubj |
| 50 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 52 much | cop |
| 51 | so | so | ADV | _ | 52 much | advmod |
| 52 | much | much | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 48 food | acl:relcl |
| 53 | in | in | ADP | _ | 54 need | case |
| 54 | need | need | NOUN | Number=Sing | 52 much | conj |
| 55 | of | of | ADP | _ | 54 need | case |
| 56 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 understand | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not understand | could | the spider | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 2 | manage | past · perfect · passive | food | the grasshopper nsubj:pass | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | get back | to-infinitive | quickly property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 4 | see | past | grasshopper | Dabi | there | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus | |||
| 5 | is | past | grasshopper | about that; trouble advcl; hungry property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | go back | past | again | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient | |||||
| 7 | get | to-infinitive | the food | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer food=Stimulus | |||||
| 8 | is | past | grasshopper | the food not said here | need conj; much property | tree rules |
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/pg70959/6/42/