---
title: The boy started off the next day, and when he arrived at the house h… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The boy started off the next day, and when he arrived at the house he was much surprised to find that the leopard was as rich as his father. Who acts: boy, leopard. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Fai
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 55

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The boy started off the next day, and when he arrived at the house he was much surprised to find that the leopard was as rich as his father.

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**Who acts:** boy, leopard · **What happens:** start off, arrive, be, find · **To what, where:** house · **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 (boy, leopard), 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:pg70959:8:55
# text = The boy started off the next day, and when he arrived at the house he was much surprised to find that the leopard was as rich as his father.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	much	much	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	surprised	surprised	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	parataxis	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	leopard	leopard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	as	as	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	ccomp	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start off** | past | the boy |  |  |  | day |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent day=Eventuality |
| 2 | **arrive** | past | boy |  |  | the house |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | surprised *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **find** | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | past | the leopard |  |  |  |  | as leopard's father; rich *property* | tree rules |

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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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