---
title: So they started off, the cow leading the way, followed by the goats… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: So they started off, the cow leading the way, followed by the goats and sheep, and then came the hens and chickens, but the cock stayed some distance behind them all. Who acts: houses, cow, cock. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Ok
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/94/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 94

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 94

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So they started off, the cow leading the way, followed by the goats and sheep, and then came the hens and chickens, but the cock stayed some distance behind them all.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** houses, cow, cock · **What happens:** start off, lead, follow, come, stay · **To what, where:** cow, way, hens, distance

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (houses, cow, cock), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:12:95
# text = So they started off, the cow leading the way, followed by the goats and sheep, and then came the hens and chickens, but the cock stayed some distance behind them all.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	leading	lead	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	goats	goat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
21	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	hens	hen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	chickens	chicken	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	stayed	stay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
31	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	32	det	_	_
32	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nmod	_	_
35	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	34	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start off** | past | houses *= house* | the cow |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **lead** | gerund | the cow *not said here* | the way |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 3 | **follow** | participle |  | the cow *not said here* |  |  |  | by the goats and sheep | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by goat=Location |
| 4 | **come** | past | houses *= house* *not said here* | the hens and chickens |  |  | then |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location hen=Theme |
| 5 | **stay** | past | the cock | some distance |  |  |  | behind houses *= house* | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme distance=Location |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 93](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/93/)
- next →: [sentence 95](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/95/)
- ↑ back to [Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/)