---
title: While the girl was being rubbed with camwood the friends of the husb… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: While the girl was being rubbed with camwood the friends of the husband would give her presents of sometimes four or five rods each, and his best friend would fire off a gun in the compound where the girl was. Who acts: friends, best friend. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 38

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While the girl was being rubbed with camwood the friends of the husband would give her presents of sometimes four or five rods each, and his best friend would fire off a gun in the compound where the girl was.

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**Who acts:** friends, best friend · **What happens:** rub, give, fire · **To what, where:** girl, presents, compound

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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 (friends, best friend), 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:pg70959:1:38
# text = While the girl was being rubbed with camwood the friends of the husband would give her presents of sometimes four or five rods each, and his best friend would fire off a gun in the compound where the girl was.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	rubbed	rub	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	advcl	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	camwood	camwood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
16	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	presents	present	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
19	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	20	advmod	_	_
20	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nummod	_	_
21	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	conj	_	_
23	rods	rod	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
24	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	29	amod	_	_
29	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
32	off	off	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	gun	gun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	compound	compound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
38	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	41	advmod	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
41	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rub** | past · passive |  | the girl |  |  |  | with camwood | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: subject=Destination with camwood=Theme |
| 2 | **give** | would | the friends of the husband | girl's presents of four rods |  | the compound |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent present=Theme |
| 3 | **fire** | would | man's best friend |  |  |  |  | off a gun | 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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