---
title: Then Achor said to the dogs: “If you can carry bundles for your mast… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Then Achor said to the dogs: “If you can carry bundles for your master, you can carry my firewood. Who acts: Achor, 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 th
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 87

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Then Achor said to the dogs: “If you can carry bundles for your master, you can carry my firewood.

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**Who acts:** Achor, dogs · **What happens:** say, carry · **To what, where:** dogs, bundles, firewood · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Achor, 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:pg70959:5:87
# text = Then Achor said to the dogs: “If you can carry bundles for your master, you can carry my firewood.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	Achor	Achor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
13	bundles	bundle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	firewood	firewood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Achor |  | the dogs |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to dog=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **carry** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | can | the dogs *= dog* | bundles |  |  |  | for your master | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bundle=Theme |
| 3 | **carry** *in a quote* | can | the dogs *= dog* | my firewood |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent firewood=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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