---
title: He then told the boys that he would take them into the bush the next… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He then told the boys that he would take them into the bush the next day, to the place where he intended to make a farm, and that they should clear some ground for him. Who acts: Osewo, degrees. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Father Tried t
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/14/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/) / 14

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He then told the boys that he would take them into the bush the next day, to the place where he intended to make a farm, and that they should clear some ground for him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Osewo, degrees · **What happens:** tell, take, intend, make, clear · **To what, where:** boys, that, bush, farm, ground · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Osewo, degrees), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:8:14
# text = He then told the boys that he would take them into the bush the next day, to the place where he intended to make a farm, and that they should clear some ground for him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	iobj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obj	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	into	into	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
21	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	23	advmod	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	intended	intend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	clear	clear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	parataxis	_	_
34	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	35	det	_	_
35	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Osewo |  | the boys |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent boy=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **take** | would | Osewo | that |  | the bush | day | degrees *= degree* *obj*; the place *obj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **intend** | past | Osewo |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Osewo *not said here* | a farm |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset farm=Product |
| 5 | **clear** | should | degrees *= degree* | some ground |  |  |  | for Osewo | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent ground=Product for he=Beneficiary |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/13/)
- next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/15/)
- ↑ back to [Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/)