---
title: For some time it had seemed to him very curious that every night the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: For some time it had seemed to him very curious that every night the meat should disappear and another animal should be killed. Who acts: meat. 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 d
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 41

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For some time it had seemed to him very curious that every night the meat should disappear and another animal should be killed.

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**Who acts:** meat · **What happens:** have, seem, disappear, kill · **To what, where:** time, tortoise, 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 (meat), 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:pg70959:4:41
# text = For some time it had seemed to him very curious that every night the meat should disappear and another animal should be killed.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	13	det	_	_
13	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	disappear	disappear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	det	_	_
20	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | meat | some time *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent time=Patient |
| 2 | **seem** | past |  |  | tortoise |  | time | curious *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **disappear** | should | the meat |  |  |  | night |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **kill** | should · passive |  | another animal |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

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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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