--- title: As the chief did not return, the wives and daughters went out to the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: As the chief did not return, the wives and daughters went out to the farm to look for him and try to find out what had happened to everybody, thus leaving the house deserted except for the cattle and the fowls. Who acts: chief, wives, house. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/92/) [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/) / 92 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 92 As the chief did not return, the wives and daughters went out to the farm to look for him and try to find out what had happened to everybody, thus leaving the house deserted except for the cattle and the fowls. **Who acts:** chief, wives, house · **What happens:** not return, go out, look, try, find out, happen · **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 (chief, wives, house), 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:pg70959:12:93 # text = As the chief did not return, the wives and daughters went out to the farm to look for him and try to find out what had happened to everybody, thus leaving the house deserted except for the cattle and the fowls. 1 As as ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 4 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 5 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 6 advmod _ _ 6 return return VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 wives wife NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nsubj _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 daughters daughter NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 conj _ _ 12 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 out out ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 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 12 obl _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 look look VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 advcl _ _ 19 for for ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obl _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 try try VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 18 conj _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 find find VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 xcomp _ _ 25 out out ADP RP _ 24 compound:prt _ _ 26 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 28 nsubj _ _ 27 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 aux _ _ 28 happened happen VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 24 ccomp _ _ 29 to to ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 everybody everybody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 32 thus thus ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 leaving leave VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 28 advcl _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj _ _ 36 deserted desert VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 ccomp _ _ 37 except except ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 for for ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 cattle cattle NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 obl _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 fowls fowl NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **return** | past · do-support | the chief *not said here* | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **go out** | past | the wives and daughters | | | | | as the chief; to the farm; out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **look** | to-infinitive | the wives and daughters *not said here* | | | | | for message | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for he=Theme | | 4 | **try** | infinitive | the wives and daughters *not said here* | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 5 | **find out** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the wives and daughters *not said here* | | | | | | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **happen** | past · perfect | | | | | | to everybody; what *nsubj* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **leave** | gerund | | | | | | thus *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **desert** | past | the house | | | | | except the cattle and the fowls | vn leave-51.2-1 «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 91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/91/) - next →: [sentence 93](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/93/) - ↑ back to [Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/)