---
title: The chief then placed the boys in a row and told them to clear the b… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief then placed the boys in a row and told them to clear the bush to the place where he would be standing, and told them that the boy who finished last would be killed as a warning to the others what would happen to them if they did not work hard. Who acts: chief, Agbor, boy, rabbit. A sentenc
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/27/)

<!-- 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/) / 27

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The chief then placed the boys in a row and told them to clear the bush to the place where he would be standing, and told them that the boy who finished last would be killed as a warning to the others what would happen to them if they did not work hard.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** chief, Agbor, boy, rabbit · **What happens:** place, tell, clear, stand, finish, kill · **To what, where:** boys, row, rabbit, bush, place, boy · **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 (chief, Agbor, boy, rabbit), 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:pg70959:8:27
# text = The chief then placed the boys in a row and told them to clear the bush to the place where he would be standing, and told them that the boy who finished last would be killed as a warning to the others what would happen to them if they did not work hard.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	row	row	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	iobj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	clear	clear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	24	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux	_	_
24	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	iobj	_	_
29	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj	_	_
33	finished	finish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	_
34	last	last	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	46	advcl	_	_
38	as	as	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	warning	warning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	_
44	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	46	nsubj	_	_
45	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	ccomp	_	_
47	to	to	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obl	_	_
49	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
50	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
51	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
52	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	53	advmod	_	_
53	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	advcl	_	_
54	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	53	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | past | the chief | the boys |  | a row | then |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent boy=Theme in row=Destination |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the chief *not said here* |  | rabbit |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **clear** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* | the bush |  | the place |  |  | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP PP.source PP.destination»: agent=Agent bush=Theme to place=Destination |
| 4 | **stand** | would · progressive | Agbor |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the chief *not said here* |  | rabbit |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **finish** | past | the boy |  |  |  |  | last *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 7 | **kill** | would · passive |  | the boy |  |  |  | as a warning to the others | vn spend\_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Duration as warning=Attribute |
| 8 | **happen** | would |  |  | rabbit |  |  | what *nsubj* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **not** **work** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · do-support | rabbit |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/26/)
- next →: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/28/)
- ↑ 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/)