---
title: When a man takes a fancy to a young girl and wishes to marry her, he… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When a man takes a fancy to a young girl and wishes to marry her, he informs the parents of his intention, and gives them presents. Who acts: man. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 27

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When a man takes a fancy to a young girl and wishes to marry her, he informs the parents of his intention, and gives them presents.

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**Who acts:** man · **What happens:** take, wish, marry, inform, give, intend · **To what, where:** fancy, young girl, girl, parents, presents

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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 (man), 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:pg70959:1:27
# text = When a man takes a fancy to a young girl and wishes to marry her, he informs the parents of his intention, and gives them presents.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	takes	take	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fancy	fancy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	wishes	wish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	informs	inform	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	intention	intention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	gives	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	iobj	_	_
28	presents	present	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | present | a man | a fancy | a young girl |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent fancy=Theme to girl=Destination |
| 2 | **wish** | present | a man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **marry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a man *not said here* | girl |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 4 | **inform** *speech: other* | present | man |  | the parents of man's intention |  |  |  | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent parent=Recipient |
| 5 | **give** | present | man *not said here* | presents | parents *= parent* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient present=Theme |
| 6 | **intend** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom intention «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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