---
title: Towards the evening the four young men returned to the town and repo… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Towards the evening the four young men returned to the town and reported to the chief that ’Ndere and her husband had not passed along the road which they were guarding. Who acts: four young men, road. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekon
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 64

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Towards the evening the four young men returned to the town and reported to the chief that ’Ndere and her husband had not passed along the road which they were guarding.

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**Who acts:** four young men, road · **What happens:** return, report, not pass, guard · **To what, where:** husband

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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 (four young men, road), 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:pg70959:24:64
# text = Towards the evening the four young men returned to the town and reported to the chief that ’Ndere and her husband had not passed along the road which they were guarding.
1	Towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
6	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	reported	report	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	obj	_	_
18	’	'	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	Ndere	Ndere	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
25	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl:relcl	_	_
26	along	along	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	guarding	guard	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | the four young men |  |  |  | evening | to the town *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to town=Result |
| 2 | **report** | participle | the four young men *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the chief | vn subordinate-95.2.1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to chief=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **not** **pass** | past · perfect · passive |  | Ndere's husband |  |  |  | along the road; Ndere *obl*; the chief *obj* | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient that=Theme |
| 4 | **guard** | past · progressive | the road |  |  |  |  | men *= man* *nsubj* | vn defend-72.3 «NP V S\_ING»: 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.

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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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