---
title: He did so, but very soon returned to see that Achi and her child was… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He did so, but very soon returned to see that Achi and her child was safe. Who acts: man, Achi. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 38

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He did so, but very soon returned to see that Achi and her child was safe.

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**Who acts:** man, Achi · **What happens:** do, return, see, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, Achi), 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:pg70959:10:38
# text = He did so, but very soon returned to see that Achi and her child was safe.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
8	returned	return	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	Achi	Achi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **return** | participle | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | past | Achi and fish's child |  |  |  |  | safe *property* | tree rules |

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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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