---
title: The hawk very soon caught sight of the bush cow rushing about throug… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The hawk very soon caught sight of the bush cow rushing about through the forest, so he flew down very quietly behind the bush cow and perched himself on the horns of the bush cow quite softly. Who acts: hawk, bush cow. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, 
---

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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 24

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The hawk very soon caught sight of the bush cow rushing about through the forest, so he flew down very quietly behind the bush cow and perched himself on the horns of the bush cow quite softly.

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**Who acts:** hawk, bush cow · **What happens:** catch, rush, fly down, perch, sight · **To what, where:** sight, forest, antelope, horns, bush cow

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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 (hawk, bush cow), 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:pg70959:23:24
# text = The hawk very soon caught sight of the bush cow rushing about through the forest, so he flew down very quietly behind the bush cow and perched himself on the horns of the bush cow quite softly.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
5	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
6	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
11	rushing	rush	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
12	about	about	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	through	through	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	down	down	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	very	very	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
23	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	perched	perch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
29	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	28	obj	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	horns	horn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
37	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | participle | the hawk *not said here* | sight of the bush cow |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sight=Theme |
| 2 | **rush** | gerund | the bush cow *not said here* |  |  | the forest |  | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through forest=Trajectory |
| 3 | **fly down** | past | the hawk |  |  |  |  | behind the bush cow; antelope *nsubj*; quietly *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent behind cow=Location |
| 4 | **perch** | past | the hawk *not said here* | antelope |  | the horns of the bush cow |  | softly *property* | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent himself=Theme on horn=Destination |
| 5 | **sight** |  |  | the bush cow |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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