---
title: The man would work on the parents’ farm for some months, and the gir… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The man would work on the parents’ farm for some months, and the girl would receive small presents from time to time. Who acts: man, girl. 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 30

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The man would work on the parents’ farm for some months, and the girl would receive small presents from time to time.

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**Who acts:** man, girl · **What happens:** work, receive · **To what, where:** small 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, girl), 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:pg70959:1:30
# text = The man would work on the parents’ farm for some months, and the girl would receive small presents from time to time.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	receive	receive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
19	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	presents	present	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | would | the man |  |  |  | month | on the parents's farm | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on farm=Theme |
| 2 | **receive** | would | the girl | small presents |  |  | time |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent present=Theme |

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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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