--- title: He went up to them, and having told them a long story about the crue… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: He went up to them, and having told them a long story about the cruel enemy he was running away from, begged them to hide him and cover him up with leaves and branches so that he should not be discovered. Who acts: hare. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Change…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/) / 2 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 2 He went up to them, and having told them a long story about the cruel enemy he was running away from, begged them to hide him and cover him up with leaves and branches so that he should not be discovered. **Who acts:** hare · **What happens:** go up, have, tell, run away, beg, hide · **To what, where:** people, long story, cruel enemy, hare · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (hare), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:19:2 # text = He went up to them, and having told them a long story about the cruel enemy he was running away from, begged them to hide him and cover him up with leaves and branches so that he should not be discovered. 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 up up ADP RP _ 2 compound:prt _ _ 4 to to ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 8 having have VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 9 ccomp _ _ 9 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 10 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 iobj _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 12 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 14 about about ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 16 cruel cruel ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 17 enemy enemy NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 19 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 20 running run VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 17 acl:relcl _ _ 21 away away ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ _ 22 from from ADP IN _ 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 24 begged beg VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 25 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ _ 26 to to PART TO _ 27 mark _ _ 27 hide hide VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 advcl _ _ 28 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 30 cover cover VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 conj _ _ 31 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 obj _ _ 32 up up ADP RP _ 30 compound:prt _ _ 33 with with ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 leaves leaf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obl _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 branches branch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 conj _ _ 37 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 43 mark _ _ 38 that that SCONJ IN _ 37 fixed _ _ 39 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 40 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 41 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 43 advmod _ _ 42 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 43 aux:pass _ _ 43 discovered discover VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 30 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **go up** | past | hare | | people | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 2 | **have** | gerund | | | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | | a long story | people | | | about the cruel enemy | tree rules | | 4 | **run away** | past · progressive | hare | the cruel enemy *not said here* | | | | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme enemy=Trajectory | | 5 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | | | people | | | | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent they=Recipient | | 6 | **hide** | to-infinitive | | hare | | | | | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | | 7 | **cover up** | infinitive | | | hare | | | with leaves and branches | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Destination with leaf=Theme | | 8 | **not** **discover** | should · passive | | hare | | | | | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/1/) - next →: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/3/) - ↑ back to [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/)