---
title: Agbor then got his matchet, and having sharpened it on a stone, went… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Agbor then got his matchet, and having sharpened it on a stone, went into the house and cut his wife’s head off, and then killed his two children. Who acts: Agbor. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 18

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Agbor then got his matchet, and having sharpened it on a stone, went into the house and cut his wife’s head off, and then killed his two children.

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**Who acts:** Agbor · **What happens:** get, sharpen, go, cut off, kill · **To what, where:** matchet, stone, house, head, two children

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Agbor), 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:pg70959:11:18
# text = Agbor then got his matchet, and having sharpened it on a stone, went into the house and cut his wife’s head off, and then killed his two children.
1	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	matchet	matchet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	aux	_	_
9	sharpened	sharpen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	into	into	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	’s	's	PART	POS	_	22	case	_	_
24	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
25	off	off	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	29	advmod	_	_
29	killed	kill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | Agbor | Agbor's matchet |  |  | then |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer matchet=Stimulus |
| 2 | **sharpen** | gerund · perfect | Agbor *not said here* | matchet |  | a stone |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 3 | **go** | past | Agbor *not said here* |  |  | the house |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into house=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **cut off** | past | Agbor *not said here* | Agbor's wife's head |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality |
| 5 | **kill** | past | Agbor *not said here* | Agbor's two children |  |  | then |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Theme |

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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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