---
title: Some few years ago I happened to be having some bush cleared and som… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Some few years ago I happened to be having some bush cleared and some large trees cut down on the station at Okuni. Who acts: I, bush. 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 84

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Some few years ago I happened to be having some bush cleared and some large trees cut down on the station at Okuni.

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**Who acts:** I, bush · **What happens:** happen, have, clear, cut down · **To what, where:** large trees, station

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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 (I, bush), 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:pg70959:1:84
# text = Some few years ago I happened to be having some bush cleared and some large trees cut down on the station at Okuni.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
2	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux	_	_
9	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
10	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	cleared	clear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	det	_	_
15	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
17	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
18	down	down	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	station	station	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | I |  |  |  |  | ago *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | to-infinitive · progressive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **clear** | past | some bush | some large trees |  |  |  |  | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent tree=Source |
| 4 | **cut down** | participle |  | some large trees *not said here* |  | the station |  | at Okuni | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at okuni=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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