---
title: It is a vexed question, and each case would be decided upon its own… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: It is a vexed question, and each case would be decided upon its own merits, the opinion of the parents of the woman weighing largely in the balance. Who acts: conflict, own merits, woman. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency tre
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 47

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It is a vexed question, and each case would be decided upon its own merits, the opinion of the parents of the woman weighing largely in the balance.

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**Who acts:** conflict, own merits, woman · **What happens:** vex, be, decide, weigh, opine · **To what, where:** vexed question, case, balance, parents

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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 (conflict, own merits, woman), 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:pg70959:1:47
# text = It is a vexed question, and each case would be decided upon its own merits, the opinion of the parents of the woman weighing largely in the balance.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	vexed	vex	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	decided	decide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl:relcl	_	_
13	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	merits	merit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	opinion	opinion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	weighing	weigh	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	acl	_	_
27	largely	largely	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	balance	balance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vex** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | present | conflict | a vexed question and the opinion of the parents of the woman |  |  |  | the opinion of the parents of the woman *conj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **decide** | would · passive | conflict's own merits | each case |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent subject=Topic |
| 4 | **weigh** | gerund | the woman *not said here* |  |  | the balance |  | largely *property* | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **opine** |  |  | the parents of the woman |  |  |  |  | nom opinion «cognition 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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