---
title: At the present time, rods are not used further north-east from Ikom… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: At the present time, rods are not used further north-east from Ikom than Umbaji, and in 1909, whilst on the Anglo-German Boundary Commission, he found that there was no form of native currency at Bassankwala, and no substitute therefore, with the possible exception of a few native forged iron hoes w
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 110

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At the present time, rods are not used further north-east from Ikom than Umbaji, and in 1909, whilst on the Anglo-German Boundary Commission, he found that there was no form of native currency at Bassankwala, and no substitute therefore, with the possible exception of a few native forged iron hoes which found their way down from the north-west, and had a fixed marketable value.

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**Who acts:** form, few native forged iron hoes · **What happens:** not use, find, be, forge, find down, have · **To what, where:** rods, 1909, way, north west, fixed marketable value, native currency · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (form, few native forged iron hoes), 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:pg70959:1:110
# text = At the present time, rods are not used further north-east from Ikom than Umbaji, and in 1909, whilst on the Anglo-German Boundary Commission, he found that there was no form of native currency at Bassankwala, and no substitute therefore, with the possible exception of a few native forged iron hoes which found their way down from the north-west, and had a fixed marketable value.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	rods	rod	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
10	further	further	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
11	north	north	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	east	east	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Ikom	Ikom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
16	than	than	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Umbaji	Umbaji	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	1909	1909	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
23	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
26	Anglo	Anglo	X	AFX	_	28	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
29	Boundary	Boundary	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	Commission	Commission	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	36	expl	_	_
36	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	ccomp	_	_
37	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	38	det	_	_
38	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	currency	currency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	_
42	at	at	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	Bassankwala	Bassankwala	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	47	det	_	_
47	substitute	substitute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	parataxis	_	_
48	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
50	with	with	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	exception	exception	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	parataxis	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
56	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
57	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
58	forged	forge	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	60	amod	_	_
59	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	compound	_	_
60	hoes	hoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	nmod	_	_
61	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	62	nsubj	_	_
62	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	acl:relcl	_	_
63	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	64	nmod:poss	_	_
64	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obj	_	_
65	down	down	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
66	from	from	ADP	IN	_	70	case	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	70	det	_	_
68	north	north	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	68	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	west	west	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	73	punct	_	_
72	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	73	cc	_	_
73	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	62	conj	_	_
74	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	77	det	_	_
75	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	77	amod	_	_
76	marketable	marketable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	77	amod	_	_
77	value	value	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
78	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **use** | present · passive |  | rods |  | 1909 | time | on the German Boundary Commission; further north east *obj*; no substitute *parataxis*; the possible exception of a few native forged iron hoes *parataxis*; therefore *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **find** | past | form |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **be** | past | no form of native currency at Bassankwala |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **forge** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **find down** | past | a few native forged iron hoes | rods's way |  | the north west |  | down *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent way=Theme from west=Source |
| 6 | **have** | past | a few native forged iron hoes *not said here* | a fixed marketable value |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent value=Patient |
| 7 | **fix** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 8 | **form** |  |  | native currency at Bassankwala |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 9 | **except** |  |  | a few native forged iron hoes |  |  |  |  | nom exception «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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