---
title: The stories have, however, been set down as nearly as possible in th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The stories have, however, been set down as nearly as possible in the way they were related to me, the only alterations made being those necessary to render the tales into simple English, as bush English would not be understood, and certain passages containing objectionable matter have been omitted.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 102

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The stories have, however, been set down as nearly as possible in the way they were related to me, the only alterations made being those necessary to render the tales into simple English, as bush English would not be understood, and certain passages containing objectionable matter have been omitted.

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**Who acts:** stories, only alterations, certain passages · **What happens:** have, set down, be, make, render, not understand · **To what, where:** me, way, those, tales, simple English, bush English

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stories, only alterations, certain passages), 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:pg70959:1:102
# text = The stories have, however, been set down as nearly as possible in the way they were related to me, the only alterations made being those necessary to render the tales into simple English, as bush English would not be understood, and certain passages containing objectionable matter have been omitted.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	however	however	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	as	as	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	advcl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	related	related	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	alterations	alteration	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
26	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
27	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	cop	_	_
28	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	26	obj	_	_
29	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	render	render	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	csubj	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	_
34	into	into	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	simple	simple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
38	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
39	bush	bush	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nsubj:pass	_	_
41	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	44	advmod	_	_
43	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	understood	understand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
47	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	passages	passage	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj:pass	_	_
49	containing	contain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	48	acl	_	_
50	objectionable	objectionable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	matter	mat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obj	_	_
52	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
53	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	54	aux:pass	_	_
54	omitted	omit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | the stories |  |  |  |  | however *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **set down** | participle · passive |  |  |  |  |  | nearly *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V» |
| 3 | **is** | past | STORIES *= story* |  | me | the way |  | related *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **make** | past | the only alterations |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 5 | **is a** | gerund |  | those |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **render** | to-infinitive |  | the tales |  | simple English |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tale=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **understand** | would · passive |  | bush English |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 8 | **contain** | gerund | certain passages *not said here* | objectionable matter |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot mat=Theme |
| 9 | **omit** | present · perfect · passive |  | certain passages |  |  |  |  | vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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