---
title: After they had finished their evening meal the leopard told Agberamf… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: After they had finished their evening meal the leopard told Agberamfe to sleep with his sons, but the boy suspecting that the leopard had designs upon his life, waited until the leopard’s sons had gone to sleep and then having placed a log in his bed went outside to sleep. Who acts: rabbit, leopard,
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 56

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After they had finished their evening meal the leopard told Agberamfe to sleep with his sons, but the boy suspecting that the leopard had designs upon his life, waited until the leopard’s sons had gone to sleep and then having placed a log in his bed went outside to sleep.

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**Who acts:** rabbit, leopard, evening meal, boy, sons, log · **What happens:** finish, tell, sleep, suspect, have, wait · **To what, where:** evening meal, Agberamfe, designs · **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 (rabbit, leopard, evening meal, boy), 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:pg70959:8:56
# text = After they had finished their evening meal the leopard told Agberamfe to sleep with his sons, but the boy suspecting that the leopard had designs upon his life, waited until the leopard’s sons had gone to sleep and then having placed a log in his bed went outside to sleep.
1	After	after	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	leopard	leopard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	Agberamfe	Agberamfe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	iobj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
21	suspecting	suspect	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	acl	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	leopard	leopard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	ccomp	_	_
26	designs	design	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
27	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
31	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
32	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	leopard	leopard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	’s	's	PART	POS	_	34	case	_	_
36	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
37	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	advcl	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
42	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	43	advmod	_	_
43	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	44	aux	_	_
44	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	38	conj	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	log	log	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	_
50	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	parataxis	_	_
51	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **finish** | past · perfect | rabbit | rabbit's evening meal |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality meal=Eventuality |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the leopard | rabbit's evening meal *not said here* | Agberamfe |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent agberamfe=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **sleep** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | rabbit's evening meal *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with leopard's sons | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **suspect** | gerund | the boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | past | the leopard | designs |  |  |  | upon leopard's life | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent design=Patient |
| 6 | **wait** | past | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **go** | past · perfect | the leopard's sons |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **sleep** | to-infinitive | the leopard's sons *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **place** | gerund · perfect | the leopard's sons *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **go** | past | a log in leopard's bed |  |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **sleep** | to-infinitive | a log in leopard's bed *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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