---
title: But that will not surprise anyone who knows the native well, as he c… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But that will not surprise anyone who knows the native well, as he can never come to the point at once, but must always first beat about the bush. Who acts: that, object. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 55

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But that will not surprise anyone who knows the native well, as he can never come to the point at once, but must always first beat about the bush.

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**Who acts:** that, object · **What happens:** not surprise, know, not come, beat · **To what, where:** anyone, native, point

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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 (that, object), 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:pg70959:1:55
# text = But that will not surprise anyone who knows the native well, as he can never come to the point at once, but must always first beat about the bush.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	surprise	surprise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	obj	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	obj	_	_
11	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
26	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	28	advmod	_	_
27	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	28	advmod	_	_
28	beat	beat	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
29	about	about	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **surprise** | future | that | anyone |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus anyone=Experiencer |
| 2 | **know** | present |  | the native |  |  |  | who *nsubj*; well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer native=Stimulus |
| 3 | **not** **come** | can | object |  |  | the point |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to point=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **beat** | must |  |  |  |  |  | about the bush; always, first *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about bush=Location |

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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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