---
title: Some little time after the leopard had tried so unsuccessfully to ki… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Some little time after the leopard had tried so unsuccessfully to kill the boy, the Chief thought he would make a trial to see which of his sons liked him best. Who acts: little time, Chief, leopard, sons. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Fat
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 67

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Some little time after the leopard had tried so unsuccessfully to kill the boy, the Chief thought he would make a trial to see which of his sons liked him best.

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**Who acts:** little time, Chief, leopard, sons · **What happens:** try, kill, think, make, see, like · **To what, where:** leopard, boy, trial · **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 (little time, Chief, leopard, sons), 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:pg70959:8:67
# text = Some little time after the leopard had tried so unsuccessfully to kill the boy, the Chief thought he would make a trial to see which of his sons liked him best.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	leopard	leopard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	tried	try	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl:relcl	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	unsuccessfully	unsuccessfully	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	ccomp	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	trial	trial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	obj	_	_
27	of	of	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	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
30	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	ccomp	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	best	well	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past · perfect · passive | some little time *not said here* | the leopard |  |  |  | unsuccessfully *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **kill** | to-infinitive | some little time *not said here* | the boy |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boy=Theme |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the Chief |  |  |  | time |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **make** | would | leopard | a trial |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trial=Product |
| 5 | **see** | to-infinitive | leopard *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **like** | past | leopard's sons | leopard |  |  |  | which *obj*; well *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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