---
title: When they had eaten it they found it so good that when they returned… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they had eaten it they found it so good that when they returned home they at once sent their wives out with baskets to catch some of the fish. Who acts: people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Py
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 29

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When they had eaten it they found it so good that when they returned home they at once sent their wives out with baskets to catch some of the fish.

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**Who acts:** people · **What happens:** eat, find, return, send out, catch · **To what, where:** lot, wives, some

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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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people), 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:pg70959:25:29
# text = When they had eaten it they found it so good that when they returned home they at once sent their wives out with baskets to catch some of the fish.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
15	home	home	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	19	obl	_	_
19	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
20	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
22	out	out	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	baskets	basket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
27	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	26	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past · perfect | people | lot |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 2 | **find** | past | people | lot |  |  |  | good *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 3 | **return** | past | people |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **send out** | past | people | people's wives |  |  |  | with baskets; out *property* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Theme |
| 5 | **catch** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | some of the fish |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent some=Theme |

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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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