--- title: When it became dark, as they did not return, Alankor sent four more… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: When it became dark, as they did not return, Alankor sent four more slaves after the other two, and told them to search the farm all over for his son, but they did not return either. Who acts: FOOD, slaves, Alankor. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.- --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/87/) [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/) / 87 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 87 When it became dark, as they did not return, Alankor sent four more slaves after the other two, and told them to search the farm all over for his son, but they did not return either. **Who acts:** FOOD, slaves, Alankor · **What happens:** become, not return, send, tell, search · **To what, where:** four more slaves, slaves, farm · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (FOOD, slaves, Alankor), 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:pg70959:12:88 # text = When it became dark, as they did not return, Alankor sent four more slaves after the other two, and told them to search the farm all over for his son, but they did not return either. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 3 advmod _ _ 2 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 became become VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 advcl _ _ 4 dark dark ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 6 as as SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 7 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 8 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 9 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 10 advmod _ _ 10 return return VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 12 Alankor Alankor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ _ 13 sent send VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 14 four four NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 16 nummod _ _ 15 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 16 amod _ _ 16 slaves slave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ _ 17 after after ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 conj _ _ 24 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 iobj _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 search search VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 xcomp _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 farm farm NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 all all ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 30 over over ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 31 for for ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 35 but but CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 36 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 37 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 38 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 39 advmod _ _ 39 return return VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 ccomp _ _ 40 either either ADV RB PronType=Ind 39 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 13 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **become** | past | FOOD | | | | | dark *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 2 | **not** **return** | past · do-support | slaves *= slave* | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **send** | past | Alankor | four more slaves | | | after the other two | | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slave=Theme | | 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Alankor *not said here* | | slaves *= slave* | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | | 5 | **search** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Alankor *not said here* | the farm | | | | for Eba's son; over *property* | vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent farm=Location for son=Theme | | 6 | **not** **return** | past · do-support | slaves *= slave* | | | | | either *property* | 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 86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/86/) - next →: [sentence 88](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/88/) - ↑ back to [Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/)