---
title: When the appointed day arrived the elephant and the hawk went off wi… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the appointed day arrived the elephant and the hawk went off with their bows and arrows, and having surrounded a part of the forest, commenced to hunt. Who acts: appointed day, hawk. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River Came Into 
---

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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 4

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When the appointed day arrived the elephant and the hawk went off with their bows and arrows, and having surrounded a part of the forest, commenced to hunt.

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**Who acts:** appointed day, hawk · **What happens:** appoint, arrive, go off, surround, commence, hunt · **To what, where:** elephant, part

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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 (appointed day, hawk), 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:pg70959:13:4
# text = When the appointed day arrived the elephant and the hawk went off with their bows and arrows, and having surrounded a part of the forest, commenced to hunt.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	appointed	appoint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	amod	_	_
4	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
12	off	off	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	bows	bow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	arrows	arrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	aux	_	_
21	surrounded	surround	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	commenced	commence	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	conj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	hunt	hunt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **appoint** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **arrive** | past | the appointed day | the elephant |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go off** | past | the hawk |  |  |  |  | with hawk's bows and arrows | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **surround** | gerund · perfect |  | a part of the forest |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme part=Co-Theme |
| 5 | **commence** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **hunt** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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