--- title: He told the chief that one daughter had let his pet bird fly away, a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: He told the chief that one daughter had let his pet bird fly away, and when he flogged her the mother had threatened to leave him and to take the children with her. Who acts: Agbor, pet bird. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/27/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Wh…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/) / 27 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 27 He told the chief that one daughter had let his pet bird fly away, and when he flogged her the mother had threatened to leave him and to take the children with her. **Who acts:** Agbor, pet bird · **What happens:** tell, let, fly away, flog, threaten, leave · **To what, where:** chief, one daughter, Awo, mother, Agbor, children · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, pet bird), 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 {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:11:27 # text = He told the chief that one daughter had let his pet bird fly away, and when he flogged her the mother had threatened to leave him and to take the children with her. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 iobj _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 6 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 7 nummod _ _ 7 daughter daughter NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj:pass _ _ 8 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 9 let let VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 ccomp _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 11 pet pet NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 compound _ _ 12 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ _ 13 fly fly VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 9 parataxis _ _ 14 away away ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 17 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 19 advmod _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 flogged flog VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 20 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 obj _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nsubj:pass _ _ 23 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 threatened threaten VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 19 parataxis _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 leave leave VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 xcomp _ _ 27 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 obj _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 30 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 conj _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obj _ _ 33 with with ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Agbor | | the chief | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **let** | past · perfect · passive | | one daughter | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 3 | **fly away** | present | Agbor's pet bird | | | | | away *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **flog** | past | Agbor | Awo | | | | | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient | | 5 | **threaten** | past · perfect · passive | | the mother | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **leave** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | Agbor | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 7 | **take** | to-infinitive | | | the children | | | with Awo | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument child=Destination | 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. - ← previous: [sentence 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/26/) - next →: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/28/) - ↑ back to [Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/)