---
title: I do not, however, propose to enter into details, but merely to indi… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: I do not, however, propose to enter into details, but merely to indicate what constitutes a binding form of marriage in this part of the country according to native custom. Who acts: I. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency tree 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 26

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I do not, however, propose to enter into details, but merely to indicate what constitutes a binding form of marriage in this part of the country according to native custom.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** not propose, enter, indicate, constitute, accord, form · **To what, where:** details, binding form, part, marriage

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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 (I), 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:pg70959:1:26
# text = I do not, however, propose to enter into details, but merely to indicate what constitutes a binding form of marriage in this part of the country according to native custom.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	however	however	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	propose	propose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	enter	enter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	details	detail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	merely	merely	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	indicate	indicate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
17	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	nsubj	_	_
18	constitutes	constitute	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	binding	binding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
30	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	case	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	fixed	_	_
32	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **propose** | present · do-support | I |  |  |  |  | however *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **enter** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  | details |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into detail=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **indicate** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | merely *property* | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot clause=Topic |
| 4 | **constitute** | present |  | a binding form of marriage |  | this part of the country accord native custom |  | what *nsubj* | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme form=Pivot |
| 5 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **form** |  |  | marriage |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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