---
title: He had five dogs who were very clever, and had been taught to follow… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He had five dogs who were very clever, and had been taught to follow animals by scent. Who acts: Chief, five dogs. 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., with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 68

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He had five dogs who were very clever, and had been taught to follow animals by scent.

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**Who acts:** Chief, five dogs · **What happens:** have, be, teach, follow · **To what, where:** five dogs, animals

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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 (Chief, five dogs), 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:pg70959:5:68
# text = He had five dogs who were very clever, and had been taught to follow animals by scent.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
17	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	scent	scent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Chief | five dogs |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past | five dogs |  |  |  |  | clever *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **teach** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive | Chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: clause=Topic |
| 4 | **follow** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | animals |  |  |  | by scent | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent animal=Theme by scent=Trajectory |

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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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