---
title: These people, however, all promised, and were apparently perfectly s… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: These people, however, all promised, and were apparently perfectly sincere, at once to stop this abominable practice, at the same time saying that they were unaware they had been doing wrong, as they had never heard the white man’s laws before. Who acts: same time, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk s
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 116

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These people, however, all promised, and were apparently perfectly sincere, at once to stop this abominable practice, at the same time saying that they were unaware they had been doing wrong, as they had never heard the white man’s laws before.

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**Who acts:** same time, people · **What happens:** promise, be, stop, say, do, not hear · **To what, where:** people, abominable practice · **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 (same time, people), 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:pg70959:1:116
# text = These people, however, all promised, and were apparently perfectly sincere, at once to stop this abominable practice, at the same time saying that they were unaware they had been doing wrong, as they had never heard the white man’s laws before.
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	however	however	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	promised	promise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	apparently	apparently	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	sincere	sincere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	18	obl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
19	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
20	abominable	abominable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	practice	practice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	_
27	saying	say	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	26	acl	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
31	unaware	unaware	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	ccomp	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	aux	_	_
35	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	ccomp	_	_
36	wrong	wrong	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
38	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
39	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
40	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	42	advmod	_	_
42	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	ccomp	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	’s	's	PART	POS	_	45	case	_	_
47	laws	law	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obj	_	_
48	before	before	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **promise** *speech: promise* | participle · passive |  | this people |  |  |  | however *property* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | apparently, perfectly, sincere *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **stop** | to-infinitive |  | this abominable practice |  |  | time |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality practice=Eventuality |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the same time *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is** | past | people |  |  |  |  | unaware *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **do** | past · perfect · progressive | people |  |  |  |  | wrong *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **not** **hear** | past · perfect · passive |  | people |  |  |  | the white man's laws *obj*; before *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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