---
title: A deep grave was then dug, and ten men were killed to accompany the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: A deep grave was then dug, and ten men were killed to accompany the Chief’s son to the spirit-land. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/55/)

<!-- 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/pg70959/26/) / 55

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 55

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A deep grave was then dug, and ten men were killed to accompany the Chief’s son to the spirit-land.

<!-- .vintro -->
**What happens:** dig, kill, accompany · **To what, where:** deep grave, ten men, son, spirit land

<!-- .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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg70959:26:55
# text = A deep grave was then dug, and ten men were killed to accompany the Chief’s son to the spirit-land.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
6	dug	dig	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	accompany	accompany	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	’s	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dig** | past · passive |  | a deep grave |  |  | then |  | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **kill** | past · passive |  | ten men |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **accompany** | to-infinitive |  | the Chief's son |  | the spirit land |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent son=Theme to land=Destination |

<!-- .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 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/54/)
- next →: [sentence 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/56/)
- ↑ back to [Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/)