--- title: His father pretended to pity the boy, and told him that he would sen… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: His father pretended to pity the boy, and told him that he would send him the next day to his friend the leopard to look after him, and that he should stay there for ten nights. Who acts: father, son. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Father T --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/52/) [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/) / 52 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 52 His father pretended to pity the boy, and told him that he would send him the next day to his friend the leopard to look after him, and that he should stay there for ten nights. **Who acts:** father, son · **What happens:** pretend, pity, tell, send, look, stay · **To what, where:** boy, father, leopard, son · **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 (father, 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:pg70959:8:52 # text = His father pretended to pity the boy, and told him that he would send him the next day to his friend the leopard to look after him, and that he should stay there for ten nights. 1 His his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 pretended pretend VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to PART TO _ 5 mark _ _ 5 pity pity VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 xcomp _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 11 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 iobj _ _ 12 that that SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 13 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 14 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 15 send send VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 xcomp _ _ 16 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obj _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 18 next next ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 19 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl:unmarked _ _ 20 to to ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 22 friend friend NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 leopard leopard NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 look look VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 advcl _ _ 27 after after ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 31 that that SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 stay stay VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ _ 35 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 34 advmod _ _ 36 for for ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 ten ten NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 38 nummod _ _ 38 nights night NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **pretend** | past | son's father | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **pity** | to-infinitive | son's father *not said here* | the boy | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer boy=Stimulus | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | son's father *not said here* | | father | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | | 4 | **send** *not said to happen* | would | father | the leopard | son | | day | to son's friend | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination leopard=Theme | | 5 | **look** | to-infinitive | father *not said here* | | | | after son | | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 6 | **stay** | should | son | | | there | night | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/51/) - next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/53/) - ↑ 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/)