---
title: So he went off into the bush, taking his wife with him, and together… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: So he went off into the bush, taking his wife with him, and together they gathered large numbers of soft palm nuts. Who acts: python, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 10

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So he went off into the bush, taking his wife with him, and together they gathered large numbers of soft palm nuts.

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**Who acts:** python, people · **What happens:** go off, take, gather · **To what, where:** bush, wife, large numbers

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (python, people), 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:pg70959:22:10
# text = So he went off into the bush, taking his wife with him, and together they gathered large numbers of soft palm nuts.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	together	together	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	gathered	gather	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
23	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	nuts	nut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go off** | past | python |  |  | the bush |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **take** | gerund | python *not said here* |  | python's wife |  |  | with python | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument wife=Destination |
| 3 | **gather** | past | people | large numbers of soft palm nuts |  |  |  | together *property* | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=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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