--- title: When the sacrifice was completed, the chief told all his young men t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: When the sacrifice was completed, the chief told all his young men to go into the river with a net; in case his son should not be able to get out of the water, they could then fish him out. Who acts: chief, son, men. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxx --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/71/) [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/) / 71 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 71 When the sacrifice was completed, the chief told all his young men to go into the river with a net; in case his son should not be able to get out of the water, they could then fish him out. **Who acts:** chief, son, men · **What happens:** complete, tell, go, not be, get out, fish out · **To what, where:** sacrifice, young men, river, case, water, chief · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (chief, son, men), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:26:71 # text = When the sacrifice was completed, the chief told all his young men to go into the river with a net; in case his son should not be able to get out of the water, they could then fish him out. 1 When when SCONJ WRB _ 5 mark _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 sacrifice sacrifice NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj:pass _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux:pass _ _ 5 completed complete VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 9 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 10 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 13 det:predet _ _ 11 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 12 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obj _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 go go VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 9 ccomp _ _ 16 into into ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 19 with with ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 net net NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ; ; PUNCT : _ 30 punct _ _ 23 in in ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 case case NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nsubj _ _ 27 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 28 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 30 advmod _ _ 29 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 30 cop _ _ 30 able able ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 conj _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 xcomp _ _ 33 out out ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 34 of of ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 38 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 39 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 41 aux _ _ 40 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 41 advmod _ _ 41 fish fish VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 42 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ _ 43 out out ADP RP _ 41 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 41 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **complete** | past · passive | | the sacrifice | | | | | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the chief | | chief's young men | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent man=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | | | the river | | with a net | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into river=Initial\_Location | | 4 | **not** **is** | should | chief's son | | | case | | able *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **get out** | to-infinitive | chief's son *not said here* | the water | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **fish out** | could | men *= man* | chief | | | then | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/70/) - next →: [sentence 72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/26/72/) - ↑ 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/)