--- title: They did their best to persuade him to return home with them, but he… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: They did their best to persuade him to return home with them, but he was obstinate, and ran away to the place in the forest where he came from, and, having arrived there, turned himself into a mushroom and disappeared for ever. Who acts: parents, boy. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern N --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/109/) [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/) / [Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tor…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/) / 109 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 109 They did their best to persuade him to return home with them, but he was obstinate, and ran away to the place in the forest where he came from, and, having arrived there, turned himself into a mushroom and disappeared for ever. **Who acts:** parents, boy · **What happens:** do, persuade, return, be, run away, come · **To what, where:** best, boy, mushroom This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (parents, boy), 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:pg70959:4:110 # text = They did their best to persuade him to return home with them, but he was obstinate, and ran away to the place in the forest where he came from, and, having arrived there, turned himself into a mushroom and disappeared for ever. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 4 nmod:poss _ _ 4 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 2 obj _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 persuade persuade VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 advcl _ _ 7 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 obj _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 return return VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 xcomp _ _ 10 home home ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _ 11 with with ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 12 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 14 but but CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 15 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 16 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 17 obstinate obstinate ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 20 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 parataxis _ _ 21 away away ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ _ 22 to to ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 25 in in ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 forest forest NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod _ _ 28 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 30 advmod _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 acl:relcl _ _ 31 from from ADP IN _ 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 35 having have AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 36 aux _ _ 36 arrived arrive VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 20 parataxis _ _ 37 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 36 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 39 turned turn VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 conj _ _ 40 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 39 obj _ _ 41 into into ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 mushroom mushroom NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 45 disappeared disappear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 conj _ _ 46 for for ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 47 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 45 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **do** | past | parents *= parent* | parents's best | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality | | 2 | **persuade** | to-infinitive | parents *= parent* *not said here* | boy | | | | | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Patient clause=Result | | 3 | **return** | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* | | | | | with parents *= parent*; home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past | boy | | | | | obstinate *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **run away** | past | | | | | | to the place in the forest *result*; away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to place=Result | | 6 | **come** | past | boy | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **arrive** | gerund · perfect | | | | there | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **turn** | past | | boy | | a mushroom | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent himself=Theme into mushroom=Trajectory | | 9 | **disappear** | past | | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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 108](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/108/) - next →: [sentence 110](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/110/) - ↑ back to [Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/)