---
title: This was proof positive to the boy’s mind that whenever the owl hoot… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: This was proof positive to the boy’s mind that whenever the owl hooted in the daytime a man would die, and no amount of explanation would alter his belief. Who acts: This, owl, amount, boy. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening, with its dependency t
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 92

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This was proof positive to the boy’s mind that whenever the owl hooted in the daytime a man would die, and no amount of explanation would alter his belief.

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**Who acts:** This, owl, amount, boy, man · **What happens:** be, hoot, die, alter, mind, amount · **To what, where:** owl, daytime, mind, belief, explanation

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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 (This, owl, amount, boy), 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:pg70959:1:92
# text = This was proof positive to the boy’s mind that whenever the owl hooted in the daytime a man would die, and no amount of explanation would alter his belief.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	proof	proof	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	positive	positive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’s	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obj	_	_
11	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	21	advmod	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
14	hooted	hoot	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	daytime	daytime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
24	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	25	det	_	_
25	amount	amount	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	explanation	explanation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	alter	alter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	belief	belief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | This |  |  |  |  | to the boy's mind; positive *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hoot** | participle |  | the owl *not said here* |  | the daytime |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in daytime=Location |
| 3 | **die** | would | the owl | the boy's mind |  |  |  | a man *nsubj*; whenever *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **alter** | would | no amount of explanation | man's belief |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent belief=Patient |
| 5 | **mind** |  | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |
| 6 | **amount** |  |  | explanation |  |  |  |  | nom amount «possession transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **believe** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom belief «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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