---
title: The boys then went back to their different houses and told their mot… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The boys then went back to their different houses and told their mothers what the chief had said. Who acts: boys, chief. 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., with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 15

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The boys then went back to their different houses and told their mothers what the chief had said.

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**Who acts:** boys, chief · **What happens:** go back, tell, say · **To what, where:** mothers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (boys, chief), 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:pg70959:8:15
# text = The boys then went back to their different houses and told their mothers what the chief had said.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	mothers	mother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	iobj	_	_
14	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	obj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go back** | past | the boys |  |  |  | then | to degrees's different houses *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to house=Result |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the boys *not said here* |  | degrees's mothers |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent mother=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | the chief |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

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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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