---
title: When the work for the day was finished, and it was time to go home,… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the work for the day was finished, and it was time to go home, Chief Alankor called his people together and started off, Eba carrying his father’s bag as usual, but he entirely forgot his yam-tail which he had left behind the tree until they got half way home. Who acts: work, Chief, Eba, people
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 79

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When the work for the day was finished, and it was time to go home, Chief Alankor called his people together and started off, Eba carrying his father’s bag as usual, but he entirely forgot his yam-tail which he had left behind the tree until they got half way home.

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**Who acts:** work, Chief, Eba, people · **What happens:** be, go, call, start off, carry, forget · **To what, where:** time, people, bag, yam tail, tree, way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (work, Chief, Eba, 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:pg70959:12:80
# text = When the work for the day was finished, and it was time to go home, Chief Alankor called his people together and started off, Eba carrying his father’s bag as usual, but he entirely forgot his yam-tail which he had left behind the tree until they got half way home.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	finished	finished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	acl	_	_
16	home	home	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	Alankor	Alankor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	flat	_	_
20	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	together	together	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
26	off	off	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	Eba	Eba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
29	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	acl	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’s	's	PART	POS	_	31	case	_	_
33	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
34	as	as	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
42	yam	yam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
45	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	parataxis	_	_
49	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
52	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
53	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
54	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	advcl	_	_
55	half	half	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	56	advmod	_	_
56	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	_
57	home	home	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the work for the day |  |  |  |  | finished *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | work | time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | to-infinitive | the work for the day *not said here* |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **call** | past | Chief | time *not said here* | Eba's people |  |  | together *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient |
| 5 | **start off** | past | Chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 6 | **carry** | gerund | Eba *not said here* | Eba's father's bag |  |  |  | as usual | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bag=Theme |
| 7 | **forget** | past | Eba | Eba's yam tail |  |  |  | entirely *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **leave** | past · perfect · passive |  |  |  | the tree |  | which *nsubj:pass*; Eba *nsubj* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme behind tree=Location |
| 9 | **get** | past | people | way |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer way=Stimulus |

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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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