---
title: Shortly after this the elephant returned home, carrying the meat, an… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Shortly after this the elephant returned home, carrying the meat, and bringing his friend the hawk with him. Who acts: elephant. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., with its dependency
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., sentence 15

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Shortly after this the elephant returned home, carrying the meat, and bringing his friend the hawk with him.

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**Who acts:** elephant · **What happens:** return, carry, bring · **To what, where:** meat, hawk, friend

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elephant), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:13:15
# text = Shortly after this the elephant returned home, carrying the meat, and bringing his friend the hawk with him.
1	Shortly	shortly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	after	after	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	1	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	home	home	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	bringing	bring	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | the elephant |  |  |  |  | home, shortly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **carry** | gerund | the elephant *not said here* | the meat |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Theme |
| 3 | **bring** | gerund | the elephant *not said here* | the hawk | elephant's friend |  |  | with elephant | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent friend=Destination hawk=Theme |

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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.

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**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.

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