---
title: He therefore determined to follow the farm road, which, although muc… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He therefore determined to follow the farm road, which, although much longer, he thought would probably be safer; he thus missed the four men who were lying in wait for him. Who acts: farm road, Chief, four men. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--c
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 63

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He therefore determined to follow the farm road, which, although much longer, he thought would probably be safer; he thus missed the four men who were lying in wait for him.

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**Who acts:** farm road, Chief, four men · **What happens:** follow, think, be, miss, lie · **To what, where:** farm road, four men, wait · **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 (farm road, Chief, four men), 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:pg70959:24:63
# text = He therefore determined to follow the farm road, which, although much longer, he thought would probably be safer; he thus missed the four men who were lying in wait for him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	determined	determined	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
10	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
13	much	much	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
19	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	cop	_	_
21	safer	safe	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	missed	miss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
29	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	acl:relcl	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	wait	wait	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
34	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | to-infinitive |  | the farm road |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent road=Theme |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the farm road |  |  |  |  | Chief *nsubj*; long *property* | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | would |  |  |  |  |  | probably, safe *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **miss** | past | Chief | the four men |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |
| 5 | **lie** | past · progressive | the four men |  |  | wait |  | for Chief | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in wait=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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