---
title: Unfortunately, just before he gathered them, the elephant went to th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Unfortunately, just before he gathered them, the elephant went to the tree and rooted them all up. Who acts: he, elephant. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 4

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Unfortunately, just before he gathered them, the elephant went to the tree and rooted them all up.

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**Who acts:** he, elephant · **What happens:** gather, go, root · **To what, where:** mushrooms, tree

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (he, 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:pg70959:15:4
# text = Unfortunately, just before he gathered them, the elephant went to the tree and rooted them all up.
1	Unfortunately	unfortunately	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	gathered	gather	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	rooted	root	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	all	all	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	up	up	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gather** | past | he | mushrooms *= mushroom* |  |  |  | unfortunately *property* | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 2 | **go** | past | the elephant |  |  | the tree |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to tree=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **root** | past | the elephant *not said here* | mushrooms *= mushroom* |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

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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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