--- title: Every morning he would start off with his bow and arrows to inspect… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Every morning he would start off with his bow and arrows to inspect his traps and take out anything he found in them, and sometimes, if he were lucky, he would shoot a buck or bush pig. Who acts: morning, Agbor. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiv.--th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/3/) [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/) / 3 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 3 Every morning he would start off with his bow and arrows to inspect his traps and take out anything he found in them, and sometimes, if he were lucky, he would shoot a buck or bush pig. **Who acts:** morning, Agbor · **What happens:** start off, inspect, take out, find, be, shoot · **To what, where:** traps, anything, buck 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 (morning, Agbor), 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:pg70959:11:3 # text = Every morning he would start off with his bow and arrows to inspect his traps and take out anything he found in them, and sometimes, if he were lucky, he would shoot a buck or bush pig. 1 Every every DET DT PronType=Tot 2 det _ _ 2 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 3 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 4 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 start start VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 6 off off ADP RP _ 5 compound:prt _ _ 7 with with ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 bow bow NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 arrows arrow NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 conj _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 13 mark _ _ 13 inspect inspect VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 advcl _ _ 14 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 traps trap NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 17 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 conj _ _ 18 out out ADP RP _ 17 compound:prt _ _ 19 anything anything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 17 obj _ _ 20 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 21 found find VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 acl:relcl _ _ 22 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 26 sometimes sometimes ADV RB PronType=Ind 31 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 28 if if SCONJ IN _ 31 mark _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 30 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ _ 31 lucky lucky ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 34 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 35 shoot shoot VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 parataxis _ _ 36 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 buck buck NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 38 or or CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 39 bush bush NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 compound _ _ 40 pig pig NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **start off** | would | every morning | | | | | with Agbor's bow and arrows; Agbor *nsubj* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with bow=Subeventuality | | 2 | **inspect** | to-infinitive | every morning *not said here* | Agbor's traps | | | | | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trap=Theme | | 3 | **take out** | infinitive | every morning *not said here* | anything | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Theme | | 4 | **find** | past | Agbor | | | | | in traps *= trap* | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Agbor | | | | | lucky, sometimes *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **shoot** | would | Agbor | a buck or bush pig | | | | | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent buck=Theme | 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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/11/4/) - ↑ 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/)