---
title: This so frightened Agbor Adam that, while the other men were hunting… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: This so frightened Agbor Adam that, while the other men were hunting, he withdrew himself quietly from the party, and, having found his wife, told her that the whole of the previous day the bird had called his name and had started to call him again that morning. Who acts: other men, frightened Agbor
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 57

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This so frightened Agbor Adam that, while the other men were hunting, he withdrew himself quietly from the party, and, having found his wife, told her that the whole of the previous day the bird had called his name and had started to call him again that morning.

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**Who acts:** other men, frightened Agbor Adam, previous day, Adam · **What happens:** hunt, withdraw, find, tell, call, start · **To what, where:** Adam, party, wife, bird · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (other men, frightened Agbor Adam, previous day, Adam), 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:pg70959:25:57
# text = This so frightened Agbor Adam that, while the other men were hunting, he withdrew himself quietly from the party, and, having found his wife, told her that the whole of the previous day the bird had called his name and had started to call him again that morning.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
2	so	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	frightened	frightened	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	Adam	Adam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
8	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	hunting	hunt	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	withdrew	withdraw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	16	obj	_	_
18	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
19	from	from	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	aux	_	_
26	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	conj	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
31	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	iobj	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	ccomp	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	previous	previous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
41	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	acl:relcl	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	started	start	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	30	conj	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
49	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	xcomp	_	_
50	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obj	_	_
51	again	again	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
52	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	53	det	_	_
53	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hunt** | past · progressive | the other men |  |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **withdraw** | past | frightened Agbor Adam  This | Adam |  | the party |  | quietly *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent himself=Theme from party=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **find** | gerund · perfect | frightened Agbor Adam  This *not said here* | Adam's wife |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Topic |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | frightened Agbor Adam  This *not said here* |  | wife |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |
| 5 | **call** | past · perfect · passive | the previous day *not said here* | the bird |  |  |  | Adam's name *obj* | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Theme name=Result |
| 6 | **start** | past · perfect | frightened Agbor Adam  This *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **call** | to-infinitive | frightened Agbor Adam  This *not said here* |  | Adam |  | again; morning |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 8 | **name** |  | Adam |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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