---
title: The bush cow, failing to produce the meat, was killed by the king’s… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The bush cow, failing to produce the meat, was killed by the king’s order and his meat given to another animal to dry. Who acts: order, king. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., with its dep
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 35

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The bush cow, failing to produce the meat, was killed by the king’s order and his meat given to another animal to dry.

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**Who acts:** order, king · **What happens:** fail, not produce, kill, give, dry, order · **To what, where:** meat, bush cow, animal

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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 (order, king), 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:pg70959:4:35
# text = The bush cow, failing to produce the meat, was killed by the king’s order and his meat given to another animal to dry.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	failing	fail	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	produce	produce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’s	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
21	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	acl	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	det	_	_
24	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	dry	dry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fail** | gerund | the king's order and hare's meat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **not** **produce** | to-infinitive | the king's order and hare's meat *not said here* | the meat |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Result |
| 3 | **kill** | past · passive | the king's order and hare's meat | the bush cow |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 4 | **give** | participle |  | hare's meat *not said here* | another animal |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to animal=Recipient |
| 5 | **dry** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **order** |  | the king |  |  |  |  |  | nom order «communication 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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