---
title: The chief agreed to allow the python until midnight, and the python… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief agreed to allow the python until midnight, and the python then went off to join his wife in their house. Who acts: chief, python. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, with its de
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 50

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The chief agreed to allow the python until midnight, and the python then went off to join his wife in their house.

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**Who acts:** chief, python · **What happens:** agree, allow, go off, join · **To what, where:** python, wife, house

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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, 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:pg70959:24:50
# text = The chief agreed to allow the python until midnight, and the python then went off to join his wife in their house.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	until	until	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
15	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	off	off	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	join	join	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **allow** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* | the python |  |  | midnight |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent python=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **go off** | past | the python |  |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **join** | to-infinitive | the python *not said here* | python's wife |  | things's house |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=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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