---
title: His father told him that it was most unusual for anyone to return to… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: His father told him that it was most unusual for anyone to return to the farm after the work was over as it was well known that anyone going back might meet some evil thing. Who acts: father, way, work, anyone. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 81

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His father told him that it was most unusual for anyone to return to the farm after the work was over as it was well known that anyone going back might meet some evil thing.

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**Who acts:** father, way, work, anyone · **What happens:** tell, be, return, know, go back, meet · **To what, where:** Eba, work, evil thing · **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 (father, way, work, anyone), 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:pg70959:12:82
# text = His father told him that it was most unusual for anyone to return to the farm after the work was over as it was well known that anyone going back might meet some evil thing.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	9	advmod	_	_
9	unusual	unusual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	obl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	over	over	ADV	RB	_	13	advcl	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
25	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	advmod	_	_
26	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
28	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	32	nsubj	_	_
29	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	acl	_	_
30	back	back	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
33	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	35	det	_	_
34	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Eba's father |  | Eba |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | past | way |  |  |  |  | for anyone; unusual *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **return** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to the farm *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to farm=Result |
| 4 | **is** | past | the work |  |  |  |  | over *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **know** | past · passive |  | work |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 6 | **go back** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **meet** | might | anyone | some evil thing |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Co-Agent |

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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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