--- title: So Agbor asked the Queen to send all her people to the place where h… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: So Agbor asked the Queen to send all her people to the place where her son was going to work, and tell them to bite through the roots of the grass and bush so that her son could make a big clearing with his piece of iron without any trouble. Who acts: Agbor, son. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories fro --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/20/) [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/) / 20 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 20 So Agbor asked the Queen to send all her people to the place where her son was going to work, and tell them to bite through the roots of the grass and bush so that her son could make a big clearing with his piece of iron without any trouble. **Who acts:** Agbor, son · **What happens:** ask, send, go, work, tell, bite · **To what, where:** Queen, people, place, roots, big clearing · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Agbor, son), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:8:20 # text = So Agbor asked the Queen to send all her people to the place where her son was going to work, and tell them to bite through the roots of the grass and bush so that her son could make a big clearing with his piece of iron without any trouble. 1 So so ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 Agbor Agbor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 asked ask 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 Queen Queen PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 iobj _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 send send VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 xcomp _ _ 8 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 10 det:predet _ _ 9 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 10 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obj _ _ 11 to to ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 14 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 18 advmod _ _ 15 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nsubj _ _ 17 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 aux _ _ 18 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 13 acl:relcl _ _ 19 to to PART TO _ 20 mark _ _ 20 work work VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 18 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ _ 24 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 iobj _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 bite bite VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 xcomp _ _ 27 through through ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 roots root NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 obl _ _ 30 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 grass grass NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nmod _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 34 bush bush NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 conj _ _ 35 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 40 mark _ _ 36 that that SCONJ IN _ 35 fixed _ _ 37 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 38 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 39 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 40 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 advcl _ _ 41 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 42 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 clearing clearing NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 44 with with ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 46 nmod:poss _ _ 46 piece piece NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ _ 47 of of ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 48 iron iron NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nmod _ _ 49 without without ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 51 det _ _ 51 trouble trouble NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Agbor | | the Queen | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent queen=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **send** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Agbor *not said here* | Queen's people | | the place | | | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent people=Theme to place=Destination | | 3 | **go** | past · progressive | Queen's son | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **work** | to-infinitive | Queen's son *not said here* | | | | | | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | Agbor *not said here* | | people | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | | 6 | **bite** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Agbor *not said here* | | | the roots of the grass and bush | | | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent through root=Location | | 7 | **make** | could | Queen's son | a big clearing | | | | with son's piece of iron; without any trouble | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clearing=Product | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/19/) - next →: [sentence 21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/21/) - ↑ 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/)