---
title: The more Chief Kaku thought of the plan, the easier it seemed; so he… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The more Chief Kaku thought of the plan, the easier it seemed; so he sent for all his young men, and took a head from one, arms from another, legs from a third, and fine white teeth from a fourth, and so on, until at last the python was complete. Who acts: Chief, it, python. A sentence of «Ikom folk
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 17

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The more Chief Kaku thought of the plan, the easier it seemed; so he sent for all his young men, and took a head from one, arms from another, legs from a third, and fine white teeth from a fourth, and so on, until at last the python was complete.

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**Who acts:** Chief, it, python · **What happens:** think, seem, send, take, be · **To what, where:** head, another · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chief, it, python), 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:pg70959:24:17
# text = The more Chief Kaku thought of the plan, the easier it seemed; so he sent for all his young men, and took a head from one, arms from another, legs from a third, and fine white teeth from a fourth, and so on, until at last the python was complete.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
3	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	Kaku	Kaku	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	flat	_	_
5	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	easier	easy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	acl	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	22	det:predet	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
21	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
31	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
32	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
35	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
36	from	from	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	third	third	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
41	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
42	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
44	from	from	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	fourth	fourth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
49	so	so	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	on	on	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	until	until	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	at	at	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
57	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	cop	_	_
58	complete	complete	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the Chief |  |  |  |  | of the plan | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **send** | past | Chief |  |  |  |  | for Chief's young men | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **take** | past |  | a head |  | another |  | from one; from a third; from a fourth; arms *obl*; legs *obl*; fine white teeth *obl* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent head=Theme from one=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **is** | past | the python |  |  |  |  | complete *property* | tree rules |

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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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