---
title: But he had not gone far when his hunger tempted him to return and ea… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But he had not gone far when his hunger tempted him to return and eat the fruit. Who acts: python, hunger. 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 the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 18

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But he had not gone far when his hunger tempted him to return and eat the fruit.

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**Who acts:** python, hunger · **What happens:** not go, tempt, return, eat, hunger · **To what, where:** python, fruit

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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, hunger), 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:pg70959:22:18
# text = But he had not gone far when his hunger tempted him to return and eat the fruit.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	tempted	tempt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **go** | past · perfect | python |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tempt** | past | python's hunger | python |  |  |  | far *property* | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **return** | to-infinitive | python's hunger *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **eat** | infinitive | python's hunger *not said here* | the fruit |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Patient |
| 5 | **hunger** |  | python |  |  |  |  |  | nom hunger «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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