---
title: On the third day the antelope said to the eagle, “It seems to be ver… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: On the third day the antelope said to the eagle, “It seems to be very easy to hide; let the bush cow go and hide and the hawk look for him.” Who acts: antelope, It, bush cow, hawk. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-seek As Play
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-seek As Played By the Hawk and the Bush Cow., sentence 16

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On the third day the antelope said to the eagle, “It seems to be very easy to hide; let the bush cow go and hide and the hawk look for him.”

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**Who acts:** antelope, It, bush cow, hawk · **What happens:** say, seem, be, hide, let, go · **To what, where:** eagle, bush cow · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-seek As Played By the Hawk and the Bush Cow.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (antelope, It, bush cow, hawk), 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:pg70959:23:16
# text = On the third day the antelope said to the eagle, “It seems to be very easy to hide; let the bush cow go and hide and the hawk look for him.”
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	amod	_	_
4	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	antelope	antelope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	seems	seem	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
17	very	very	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	xcomp	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	hide	hide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
26	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	hide	hide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	conj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the antelope |  | the eagle |  | day |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to eagle=Recipient |
| 2 | **seem** *in a quote* | present | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **hide** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the bush cow |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | the bush cow *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **hide** *in a quote* | infinitive | the bush cow *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **look** *in a quote* | infinitive | the hawk |  |  |  |  | for antelope | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for he=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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