---
title: When they got to the men’s houses they looked about and found that t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they got to the men’s houses they looked about and found that there was so much to eat and they were so comfortable that they at once decided to stay, and have lived with the men ever since, while their cousins the bush fowls live in the bush. Who acts: cocks, cousins. A sentence of «Ikom folk 
---

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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 40

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When they got to the men’s houses they looked about and found that there was so much to eat and they were so comfortable that they at once decided to stay, and have lived with the men ever since, while their cousins the bush fowls live in the bush.

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**Who acts:** cocks, cousins · **What happens:** get, look, find, be, eat, decide · **To what, where:** bush

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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 (cocks, cousins), 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:pg70959:23:40
# text = When they got to the men’s houses they looked about and found that there was so much to eat and they were so comfortable that they at once decided to stay, and have lived with the men ever since, while their cousins the bush fowls live in the bush.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	’s	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	about	about	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	16	expl	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	ccomp	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	comfortable	comfortable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	30	obl	_	_
30	decided	decide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	lived	live	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	parataxis	_	_
37	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	_
40	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	41	advmod	_	_
41	since	since	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
43	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
44	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	cousins	cousin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	compound	_	_
48	fowls	fowl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	conj	_	_
49	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	conj	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | cocks *= cock* |  |  |  |  | to the men's houses *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to house=Result |
| 2 | **look** | past | cocks *= cock* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **find** | past | cocks *= cock* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | much *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **eat** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past | cocks *= cock* |  |  |  |  | comfortable *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **decide** | past | cocks *= cock* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **stay** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | cocks *= cock* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **live** | present · perfect |  |  |  |  | ever | with the men; since *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with man=Location |
| 10 | **live** | present | cocks's cousins and the bush fowls |  |  | the bush |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in bush=Location |

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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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