---
title: The parrot used to fly off very early every morning with his family… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The parrot used to fly off very early every morning with his family to an island in the river where there were plenty of palm-trees, and return in the evening carrying his bag of palm nuts with him. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 2

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The parrot used to fly off very early every morning with his family to an island in the river where there were plenty of palm-trees, and return in the evening carrying his bag of palm nuts with him.

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**What happens:** use, fly off, return, carry · **To what, where:** parrot, bag

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg70959:16:2
# text = The parrot used to fly off very early every morning with his family to an island in the river where there were plenty of palm-trees, and return in the evening carrying his bag of palm nuts with him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	parrot	parrot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
9	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
10	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
20	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	22	advmod	_	_
21	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	22	expl	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
23	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	advcl	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	_
39	nuts	nut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nmod	_	_
40	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | participle · passive |  | the parrot |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **fly off** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  | morning | with fish's family; to a island in the river *result*; early *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to island=Result |
| 3 | **return** | infinitive |  |  |  |  | evening |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **carry** | gerund |  | plenty's bag of palm nuts |  |  |  | with plenty | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bag=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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