---
title: After a few months had elapsed, the hawk said to himself: “The time… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: After a few months had elapsed, the hawk said to himself: “The time has now come for me to take my revenge upon the people for taking my boy Agbor from me.” Who acts: hawk, my. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, E. Dayrell., with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, E. Dayrell., sentence 50

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After a few months had elapsed, the hawk said to himself: “The time has now come for me to take my revenge upon the people for taking my boy Agbor from me.”

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**Who acts:** hawk, my · **What happens:** elapse, say, come, take, revenge · **To what, where:** few months, HAWK, revenge, boy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, E. Dayrell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hawk, my), 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:pg70959:3:50
# text = After a few months had elapsed, the hawk said to himself: “The time has now come for me to take my revenge upon the people for taking my boy Agbor from me.”
1	After	after	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	elapsed	elapse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
17	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
19	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	revenge	revenge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
29	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
30	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
31	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	appos	_	_
34	from	from	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **elapse** | past · perfect · passive |  | a few months |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the hawk |  | HAWK |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient |
| 3 | **come** *in a quote* | present · perfect | the hawk *not said here* |  |  |  | now; time | for the hawk *= hawk* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **take** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the hawk *not said here* | my revenge |  |  |  | upon the people | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent revenge=Theme |
| 5 | **take** *in a quote* | gerund | the hawk *not said here* | my boy |  |  |  | from the hawk *= hawk* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent boy=Theme from i=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **revenge** *in a quote* |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom revenge «act 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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