---
title: But the first thing he had to do was to get ’Ndere to agree to come… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But the first thing he had to do was to get ’Ndere to agree to come to him, so he sent off two of his young men to watch the python’s house, and told them to pretend they came from a distant country. Who acts: python, first thing, things. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by El
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 70

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But the first thing he had to do was to get ’Ndere to agree to come to him, so he sent off two of his young men to watch the python’s house, and told them to pretend they came from a distant country.

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**Who acts:** python, first thing, things · **What happens:** have, do, be, agree, come, send off · **To what, where:** first thing, python, two, house, things, distant country · **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 (python, first thing, things), 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:pg70959:24:70
# text = But the first thing he had to do was to get ’Ndere to agree to come to him, so he sent off two of his young men to watch the python’s house, and told them to pretend they came from a distant country.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	amod	_	_
4	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	parataxis	_	_
12	’	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Ndere	Ndere	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	agree	agree	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
24	off	off	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
25	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	obj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	advcl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’s	's	PART	POS	_	33	case	_	_
35	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	iobj	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	pretend	pretend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	xcomp	_	_
42	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	ccomp	_	_
44	from	from	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	distant	distant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | python | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | the first thing |  |  |  |  | Ndere *obj*; get *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **agree** *speech: agree* | to-infinitive | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **come** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the first thing *not said here* |  | python |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **send off** | past | python | two of python's young men |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent two=Theme |
| 7 | **watch** | to-infinitive | python *not said here* | the python's house |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Theme |
| 8 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | python *not said here* |  | things *= thing* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 9 | **pretend** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | python *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **come** | past | things *= thing* |  |  | a distant country |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from country=Initial\_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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