Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 29
Agbor, however, had taken care to place her son in the place where the white ants were, and he started off cutting right and left with his piece of iron and everything fell before him so that he very soon reached his father before the other boys had got so far as half way.
Who acts: white ants, Agbor, everything, other boys · What happens: take, be, start off, cut, leave, fall · To what, where: Agbor, place, father
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 (white ants, Agbor, everything, other boys), 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
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Agbor | punct |
| 3 | however | however | ADV | _ | 6 taken | advmod |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 however | punct |
| 5 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 taken | aux |
| 6 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 7 | care | care | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 taken | obj |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 9 place | mark |
| 9 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 taken | advcl |
| 10 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 son | nmod:poss |
| 11 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 taken | obj |
| 12 | in | in | ADP | _ | 14 place | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 place | det |
| 14 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 taken | obl |
| 15 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 19 were | advmod |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 ants | det |
| 17 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 ants | amod |
| 18 | ants | ant | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 were | nsubj |
| 19 | were | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 place | acl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 started | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 started | cc |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 started | nsubj |
| 23 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 taken | parataxis |
| 24 | off | off | ADP | _ | 23 started | compound:prt |
| 25 | cutting | cut | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 23 started | advcl |
| 26 | right | right | ADV | _ | 25 cutting | advmod |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 left | cc |
| 28 | left | leave | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 started | conj |
| 29 | with | with | ADP | _ | 31 piece | case |
| 30 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 31 piece | nmod:poss |
| 31 | piece | piece | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 left | obl |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 iron | case |
| 33 | iron | iron | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 piece | nmod |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 fell | cc |
| 35 | everything | everything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 36 fell | nsubj |
| 36 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 started | conj |
| 37 | before | before | ADP | _ | 38 him | case |
| 38 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 fell | obl |
| 39 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 44 reached | mark |
| 40 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 39 so | fixed |
| 41 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 reached | nsubj |
| 42 | very | very | ADV | _ | 43 soon | advmod |
| 43 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 44 reached | advmod |
| 44 | reached | reach | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 fell | advcl |
| 45 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 46 father | nmod:poss |
| 46 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 reached | obj |
| 47 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 52 got | mark |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 50 boys | det |
| 49 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 50 boys | amod |
| 50 | boys | boy | NOUN | Number=Plur | 52 got | nsubj |
| 51 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 52 got | aux |
| 52 | got | get | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 44 reached | advcl |
| 53 | so | so | ADV | _ | 54 far | advmod |
| 54 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 52 got | advmod |
| 55 | as | as | ADP | _ | 57 way | case |
| 56 | half | half | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Frac | 57 way | amod |
| 57 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 54 far | obl |
| 58 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 taken | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | take | past · perfect · passive | Agbor | the place | care obj; chief's son obj; however property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | be | past | the white ants | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | start off | past | Agbor | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 4 | cut | gerund | Agbor not said here | right property | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 5 | leave | past | Agbor not said here | with Agbor's piece of iron | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent with piece=Theme | ||||
| 6 | fall | past | everything | before Agbor | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before he=Location | ||||
| 7 | reach | past | Agbor | Agbor's father | soon property | vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent father=Theme | |||
| 8 | get | past · perfect | the other boys | far property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/29/