--- title: The cock was very frightened, and flew down from the top of his tree… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: The cock was very frightened, and flew down from the top of his tree and ran off as fast as he could to his friend the rabbit, and told him what had happened to his master and all his household, including the animals and hens. Who acts: cock. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» b --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/98/) [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/) / 98 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 98 The cock was very frightened, and flew down from the top of his tree and ran off as fast as he could to his friend the rabbit, and told him what had happened to his master and all his household, including the animals and hens. **Who acts:** cock · **What happens:** be, fly down, run off, tell, happen · **To what, where:** top, COCK · **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 (cock), 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:pg70959:12:99 # text = The cock was very frightened, and flew down from the top of his tree and ran off as fast as he could to his friend the rabbit, and told him what had happened to his master and all his household, including the animals and hens. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 cock cock NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 very very ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 5 frightened frightened ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 8 flew fly VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 9 down down ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 10 from from ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 13 of of ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nmod _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 17 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 18 off off ADP RP _ 17 compound:prt _ _ 19 as as ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ _ 20 fast fast ADV RB Degree=Pos 17 advmod _ _ 21 as as SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 22 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 23 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 20 advcl _ _ 24 to to ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 friend friend NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 rabbit rabbit NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 32 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 iobj _ _ 33 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 35 nsubj _ _ 34 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 35 happened happen VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 31 ccomp _ _ 36 to to ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 38 master master NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 40 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 42 det:predet _ _ 41 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 42 household household NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl:agent _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 44 including including ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 animals animal NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 conj _ _ 47 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 48 hens hen NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the cock | | | | | frightened *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **fly down** | past | | | | the top of COCK's tree | | down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from top=Trajectory | | 3 | **run off** | past | | | | | | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | | | COCK | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | | 5 | **happen** | past · perfect | | | | | | to COCK's master; what *nsubj*; COCK's household *obl:agent*; the animals and hens *conj* | vn occur-48.3-1 «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 97](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/97/) - next →: [sentence 99](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/99/) - ↑ back to [Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/)