---
title: Having rested for a little while, they started off again, but had on… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Having rested for a little while, they started off again, but had only gone a few steps when the bird once more attracted their attention by calling Agbor’s name. Who acts: women, bird, Agbor. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daugh
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/79/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/) / 79

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Having rested for a little while, they started off again, but had only gone a few steps when the bird once more attracted their attention by calling Agbor’s name.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** women, bird, Agbor · **What happens:** have, rest, start off, go, attract, call · **To what, where:** few steps, attention, name · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (women, bird, Agbor), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:25:79
# text = Having rested for a little while, they started off again, but had only gone a few steps when the bird once more attracted their attention by calling Agbor’s name.
1	Having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
2	rested	rest	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	xcomp	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	off	off	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	again	again	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	only	only	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	parataxis	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
20	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
23	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	25	advmod	_	_
24	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	25	advmod	_	_
25	attracted	attract	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	attention	attention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
30	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	’s	's	PART	POS	_	30	case	_	_
32	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | gerund | women *= woman* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **rest** | participle | women *= woman* *not said here* |  |  |  | while |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **start off** | past | women *= woman* |  |  |  | again |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **go** | past · perfect |  | a few steps |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location step=Theme |
| 5 | **attract** | past | the bird | women's attention |  |  |  | once *property* | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attention=Patient |
| 6 | **call** | gerund | the bird *not said here* | Agbor's name |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent name=Recipient |
| 7 | **attend** |  | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  |  | nom attention «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **name** |  | Agbor |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/78/)
- next →: [sentence 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/80/)
- ↑ back to [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/25/)