--- title: They very soon climbed up to the highest branches of the trees, coll… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: They very soon climbed up to the highest branches of the trees, collecting the fruit as they went, and started throwing them at one another, when suddenly Ori lost his hold and fell to the ground, breaking his neck. Who acts: Ori, Okuni. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elp --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/3/) [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/) / [Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyon…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/) / 3 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 3 They very soon climbed up to the highest branches of the trees, collecting the fruit as they went, and started throwing them at one another, when suddenly Ori lost his hold and fell to the ground, breaking his neck. **Who acts:** Ori, Okuni · **What happens:** climb up, collect, go, start, throw, lose · **To what, where:** Ori, fruit, hold, neck This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ori, Okuni), 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:pg70959:12:3 # text = They very soon climbed up to the highest branches of the trees, collecting the fruit as they went, and started throwing them at one another, when suddenly Ori lost his hold and fell to the ground, breaking his neck. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj:pass _ _ 2 very very ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 3 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 4 advmod _ _ 4 climbed climb VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 up up ADP RP _ 4 compound:prt _ _ 6 to to ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 highest high ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 9 amod _ _ 9 branches branch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ _ 10 of of ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 trees tree NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 14 collecting collect VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 fruit fruit NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ _ 17 as as SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 18 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 started start VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 23 throwing throw VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 22 xcomp _ _ 24 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 obj _ _ 25 at at ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 23 obl _ _ 27 another another DET DT PronType=Ind 26 fixed _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 29 when when SCONJ WRB _ 32 mark _ _ 30 suddenly suddenly ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 31 Ori Ori PROPN NNP Number=Sing 32 nsubj _ _ 32 lost lose VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 conj _ _ 33 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 hold hold NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 fell fall VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 conj _ _ 37 to to ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 41 breaking break VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 36 advcl _ _ 42 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 43 nmod:poss _ _ 43 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **climb up** | participle · passive | | Ori | | | | to the highest branches of the trees *result*; soon *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: subject=Extent to branch=Result | | 2 | **collect** | gerund | | the fruit | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Theme | | 3 | **go** | past | Ori | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **start** | past | | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 5 | **throw** | gerund | | Ori | | | | at one | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent they=Theme at one=Destination | | 6 | **lose** | past | Ori | Okuni's hold | | | | suddenly *property* | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Eventuality | | 7 | **fall** | past | Ori *not said here* | | | | | to the ground | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to ground=Theme | | 8 | **break** | gerund | Ori *not said here* | Okuni's neck | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer neck=Patient | | 9 | **hold** | | Okuni | | | | | | nom hold «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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/pg70959/12/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/4/) - ↑ back to [Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/)