---
title: Agbor implored the people to kill him at once, but they refused, and… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Agbor implored the people to kill him at once, but they refused, and left him tied up to the post, where he died during the night from loss of blood. Who acts: Agbor, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Kille
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 37

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Agbor implored the people to kill him at once, but they refused, and left him tied up to the post, where he died during the night from loss of blood.

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**Who acts:** Agbor, people · **What happens:** implore, kill, refuse, leave, tie up, die · **To what, where:** people, Agbor, loss

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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, people), 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:pg70959:11:37
# text = Agbor implored the people to kill him at once, but they refused, and left him tied up to the post, where he died during the night from loss of blood.
1	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	implored	implore	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	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	xcomp	_	_
19	up	up	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	26	advmod	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
27	during	during	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	from	from	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **implore** | past | Agbor |  | the people |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Recipient |
| 2 | **kill** | to-infinitive | Agbor *not said here* | Agbor |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **refuse** | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **leave** | past | Agbor *not said here* | Agbor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **tie up** | participle | Agbor *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the post | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle PP»: agent=Patient to post=Co-Patient |
| 6 | **die** | past | Agbor |  |  | loss of blood | night |  | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V PP.cause»: agent=Patient from loss=Causer |

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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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