---
title: He continued to dance a little way off, and then returned two or thr… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He continued to dance a little way off, and then returned two or three times, until the tortoise told him that he could dance as far off as he liked, as he was there to look after Achi. Who acts: man, tortoise. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 39

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He continued to dance a little way off, and then returned two or three times, until the tortoise told him that he could dance as far off as he liked, as he was there to look after Achi.

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**Who acts:** man, tortoise · **What happens:** continue, dance, return, tell, like, be · **To what, where:** little way, man · **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, tortoise), 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:pg70959:10:39
# text = He continued to dance a little way off, and then returned two or three times, until the tortoise told him that he could dance as far off as he liked, as he was there to look after Achi.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	continued	continue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	off	off	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
12	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
14	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	conj	_	_
16	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	iobj	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
27	as	as	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	29	advmod	_	_
29	off	off	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
30	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
37	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	ccomp	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	acl	_	_
40	after	after	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	Achi	Achi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **continue** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn continue-55.3 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **dance** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | a little way |  |  |  | off *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location way=Theme |
| 3 | **return** | past | man *not said here* |  |  |  | then; time |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the tortoise |  | man |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **dance** *not said to happen* | could | man |  |  |  |  | off *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **like** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 7 | **is** | past | man |  |  |  |  | there *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **look** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  | after Achi |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

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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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