---
title: When the morning came, the chief sent for the animals to come in, an… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the morning came, the chief sent for the animals to come in, and, as the elephant was the biggest and strongest, he chose him. Who acts: morning, chief, elephant. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 2

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When the morning came, the chief sent for the animals to come in, and, as the elephant was the biggest and strongest, he chose him.

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**Who acts:** morning, chief, elephant · **What happens:** come, send, come in, be, choose · **To what, where:** elephant

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (morning, chief, elephant), 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:pg70959:26:2
# text = When the morning came, the chief sent for the animals to come in, and, as the elephant was the biggest and strongest, he chose him.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
14	in	in	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	biggest	big	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	advcl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	strongest	strong	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the morning |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **send** | past | the chief |  |  |  |  | for the animals | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **come in** | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | the elephant |  |  |  |  | big *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | the elephant *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **choose** | past | chief | elephant |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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