---
title: Agbor warned his wife and two children that they were on no account… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Agbor warned his wife and two children that they were on no account to touch the bird, as he was very fond of it, and did not want any harm to happen to it. Who acts: Agbor, children, harm. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hu
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 9

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Agbor warned his wife and two children that they were on no account to touch the bird, as he was very fond of it, and did not want any harm to happen to it.

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**Who acts:** Agbor, children, harm · **What happens:** warn, be, touch, not want, happen · **To what, where:** wife, account, bird, harm · **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, children, harm), 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:pg70959:11:9
# text = Agbor warned his wife and two children that they were on no account to touch the bird, as he was very fond of it, and did not want any harm to happen to it.
1	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	warned	warn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	13	det	_	_
13	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	very	very	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	advcl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
31	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	32	det	_	_
32	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **warn** *speech: warn* | past | Agbor |  | Agbor's wife and two children |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | past | children *= child* |  |  | no account |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **touch** | to-infinitive | Agbor *not said here* | the bird |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme bird=Co-Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | Agbor |  |  |  |  | of bird; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **want** | past · do-support | Agbor *not said here* | any harm |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **happen** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | any harm *not said here* |  | bird |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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