---
title: When he returned in the evening, Agbor used to worry his wife and te… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When he returned in the evening, Agbor used to worry his wife and tell her that he wanted a son, until at last Awo told her husband that, as she did not appear to be lucky with her children, he had better save up and buy a slave who could help him. Who acts: Agbor, last Awo, that, Awo. A sentence of
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 4

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When he returned in the evening, Agbor used to worry his wife and tell her that he wanted a son, until at last Awo told her husband that, as she did not appear to be lucky with her children, he had better save up and buy a slave who could help him.

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**Who acts:** Agbor, last Awo, that, Awo, slave · **What happens:** return, use, worry, tell, want, husband · **To what, where:** wife, son, slave, Agbor · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, last Awo, that, Awo), 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:pg70959:11:4
# text = When he returned in the evening, Agbor used to worry his wife and tell her that he wanted a son, until at last Awo told her husband that, as she did not appear to be lucky with her children, he had better save up and buy a slave who could help him.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
8	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	worry	worry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
16	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	Awo	Awo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	iobj	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	36	advmod	_	_
36	appear	appear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
38	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	cop	_	_
39	lucky	lucky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	ccomp	_	_
40	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
46	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	45	advmod	_	_
47	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	xcomp	_	_
48	up	up	ADP	RP	_	47	compound:prt	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	buy	buy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	conj	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
53	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	55	nsubj	_	_
54	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	acl:relcl	_	_
56	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | Agbor |  |  |  | evening |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **use** | past | Agbor |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **worry** | to-infinitive | Agbor *not said here* | Agbor's wife |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus wife=Experiencer |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | Agbor *not said here* |  | wife |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **want** | past | Agbor | a son |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot son=Theme |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | last Awo |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent husband=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **husband** |  | that |  |  |  |  | Awo *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 8 | **not** **appear** *not said to happen* | past · do-support | Awo |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **is** | to-infinitive | Awo *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with Awo's children; lucky *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **have** | past | Agbor |  |  |  |  | well *property* | tree rules |
| 11 | **save up** | infinitive | Agbor *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 12 | **buy** | infinitive | Agbor *not said here* | a slave |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slave=Theme |
| 13 | **help** | could | a slave |  | Agbor |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |

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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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