---
title: After crying bitterly for three days, her mother began to come out o… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: After crying bitterly for three days, her mother began to come out of the grave, and on the fourth day, when Aikor’s head and shoulders were showing above the ground, Nagor was so anxious to get her mother out altogether that she caught hold of her head and pulled with all her might, with the result
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 20

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After crying bitterly for three days, her mother began to come out of the grave, and on the fourth day, when Aikor’s head and shoulders were showing above the ground, Nagor was so anxious to get her mother out altogether that she caught hold of her head and pulled with all her might, with the result that she pulled her mother’s head off her shoulders.

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**Who acts:** mother, head, Nagor · **What happens:** cry, begin, come out, show, be, get out · **To what, where:** grave, ground, mother, hold, head, shoulders

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, head, Nagor), 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:pg70959:5:20
# text = After crying bitterly for three days, her mother began to come out of the grave, and on the fourth day, when Aikor’s head and shoulders were showing above the ground, Nagor was so anxious to get her mother out altogether that she caught hold of her head and pulled with all her might, with the result that she pulled her mother’s head off her shoulders.
1	After	after	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
3	bitterly	bitterly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	out	out	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	fourth	fourth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	22	amod	_	_
22	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	31	advmod	_	_
25	Aikor	Aikor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	’s	's	PART	POS	_	25	case	_	_
27	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	conj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	showing	show	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	acl	_	_
32	above	above	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
36	Nagor	Nagor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
38	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	anxious	anxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	xcomp	_	_
42	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
44	out	out	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
45	altogether	altogether	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
46	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
47	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	advcl	_	_
49	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
54	pulled	pull	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	48	conj	_	_
55	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
56	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	58	det:predet	_	_
57	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
60	with	with	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	result	result	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	parataxis	_	_
63	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	65	mark	_	_
64	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	65	nsubj	_	_
65	pulled	pull	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	62	advcl	_	_
66	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	67	nmod:poss	_	_
67	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	’s	's	PART	POS	_	67	case	_	_
69	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	obj	_	_
70	off	off	ADP	IN	_	72	case	_	_
71	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	72	nmod:poss	_	_
72	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	65	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cry** *speech: express* | gerund | Nagor's mother *not said here* |  |  |  | day | bitterly *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **begin** | past | Nagor's mother |  |  |  |  | the result *parataxis* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **come out** | to-infinitive | Nagor's mother *not said here* | the grave |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient grave=Result |
| 4 | **show** | past · progressive | Aikor's head and shoulders |  |  | the ground |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | past | Nagor |  |  |  | day | anxious *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **get out** | to-infinitive | Nagor *not said here* | Nagor's mother |  |  |  | altogether, out *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **catch** | past | Nagor | hold of Nagor's head |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme |
| 8 | **pull** | participle | Nagor *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **pull** | past | Nagor | Nagor's mother's head |  | Nagor's shoulders |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent head=Theme off shoulder=Initial\_Location |
| 10 | **hold** |  |  | Nagor's head |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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