---
title: On his way he passed several cocks and hens, and asked them where th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: On his way he passed several cocks and hens, and asked them where the hawk was, but they only laughed at him. Who acts: antelope, hawk, hawks. 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., with
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/23/28/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-seek As Pla…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/23/) / 28

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-seek As Played By the Hawk and the Bush Cow., sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On his way he passed several cocks and hens, and asked them where the hawk was, but they only laughed at him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** antelope, hawk, hawks · **What happens:** pass, ask, be, laugh · **To what, where:** several cocks, way, cocks

<!-- .vabout -->
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, hawk, hawks), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:23:28
# text = On his way he passed several cocks and hens, and asked them where the hawk was, but they only laughed at him.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	cocks	cock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	hens	hen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	17	advmod	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	only	only	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past | antelope | several cocks and hens |  | antelope's way |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent cock=Theme on way=Destination |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | antelope *not said here* |  | cocks *= cock* |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 3 | **be** | past | the hawk |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **laugh** | past | hawks *= hawk* |  |  |  |  | at antelope | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/23/27/)
- next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/23/29/)
- ↑ back to [Xxx.--the Game of Hide-and-seek As Played By the Hawk and the Bush Cow.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/23/)