---
title: He went on and on until he thought the Elephantiasis must be a long… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He went on and on until he thought the Elephantiasis must be a long way behind, and it would be safe to stop for a time, so when he came to a small compound where the people were having their evening meal he went in and told them that he was being chased, and that the enemy were following him. Who a
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 11

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He went on and on until he thought the Elephantiasis must be a long way behind, and it would be safe to stop for a time, so when he came to a small compound where the people were having their evening meal he went in and told them that he was being chased, and that the enemy were following him.

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**Who acts:** Elephantiasis, thing, people, enemy · **What happens:** go, think, be, stop, come, have · **To what, where:** long way, small compound, evening meal, people, Elephantiasis · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Elephantiasis, thing, people, enemy), 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:pg70959:19:11
# text = He went on and on until he thought the Elephantiasis must be a long way behind, and it would be safe to stop for a time, so when he came to a small compound where the people were having their evening meal he went in and told them that he was being chased, and that the enemy were following him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	on	on	ADV	RB	_	3	conj	_	_
6	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Elephantiasis	elephantiasis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
11	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	cop	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	ccomp	_	_
16	behind	behind	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	cop	_	_
22	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	ccomp	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
30	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	compound	compound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
37	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	41	advmod	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	nsubj	_	_
40	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	36	acl:relcl	_	_
42	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
43	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	_
44	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	acl:relcl	_	_
47	in	in	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
50	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	iobj	_	_
51	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj:pass	_	_
53	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	aux:pass	_	_
54	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	55	aux:pass	_	_
55	chased	chase	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	49	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
58	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	62	mark	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nsubj	_	_
61	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	62	aux	_	_
62	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
63	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Elephantiasis |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Elephantiasis |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | must | the Elephantiasis | a long way |  |  |  | behind *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | would | thing |  |  |  |  | safe *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **stop** | to-infinitive | thing *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 6 | **come** | past | Elephantiasis |  |  | a small compound |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to compound=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **have** | past · progressive | the people | people's evening meal |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meal=Patient |
| 8 | **go in** | past | Elephantiasis | people's evening meal *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location meal=Theme |
| 9 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Elephantiasis *not said here* |  | people |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 10 | **chase** | past · passive |  | Elephantiasis |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 11 | **follow** | past · progressive | the enemy | Elephantiasis |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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