--- title: Soon after they reached the house, food was brought for the chief, b… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: Soon after they reached the house, food was brought for the chief, but he could not eat anything as he was anxious about his favourite son, and was expecting him to return with the two slaves every minute. Who acts: slaves, house, Eba. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/86/) [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/) / 86 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 86 Soon after they reached the house, food was brought for the chief, but he could not eat anything as he was anxious about his favourite son, and was expecting him to return with the two slaves every minute. **Who acts:** slaves, house, Eba · **What happens:** reach, bring, not eat, be, expect, return · **To what, where:** house, food, anything, Eba 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 (slaves, house, Eba), 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:pg70959:12:87 # text = Soon after they reached the house, food was brought for the chief, but he could not eat anything as he was anxious about his favourite son, and was expecting him to return with the two slaves every minute. 1 Soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 4 advmod _ _ 2 after after SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 3 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 reached reach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj:pass _ _ 9 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 aux:pass _ _ 10 brought bring VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 acl _ _ 11 for for ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 15 but but CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 16 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 17 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 18 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 19 advmod _ _ 19 eat eat VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 20 anything anything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 19 obj _ _ 21 as as SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 22 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 24 anxious anxious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 advcl _ _ 25 about about ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 26 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 27 favourite favourite ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 31 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 32 expecting expect VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 advcl _ _ 33 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 obj _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 return return VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 xcomp _ _ 36 with with ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 38 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 39 nummod _ _ 39 slaves slave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 obl _ _ 40 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 41 det _ _ 41 minute minute NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **reach** | past | slaves *= slave* | the house | | | | soon *property* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent house=Theme | | 2 | **bring** | past · passive | the house *not said here* | food | | | | for the chief | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: subject=Theme | | 3 | **not** **eat** | could | Eba | anything | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Patient | | 4 | **is** | past | Eba | | | | | about Eba's favourite son; anxious *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **expect** | past · progressive | slaves *= slave* *not said here* | Eba | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **return** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Eba *not said here* | | | | minute | with the two slaves | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/85/) - next →: [sentence 87](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/87/) - ↑ back to [Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/)