---
title: As Achi was skilful at catching fish, she begged her husband to allo… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: As Achi was skilful at catching fish, she begged her husband to allow her to go, but he refused on account of her condition. Who acts: fish, husband. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., with its depen
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 8

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As Achi was skilful at catching fish, she begged her husband to allow her to go, but he refused on account of her condition.

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**Who acts:** fish, husband · **What happens:** be, catch, beg, allow, go, refuse · **To what, where:** fish, husband, account, condition

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fish, husband), 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:pg70959:10:8
# text = As Achi was skilful at catching fish, she begged her husband to allow her to go, but he refused on account of her condition.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	Achi	Achi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	skilful	skilful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	catching	catch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
7	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
15	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	iobj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	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 |  |  |  |  |  | as Achi; skilful *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **catch** | gerund |  | fish |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme |
| 3 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | fish |  | fish's husband |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent husband=Recipient |
| 4 | **allow** | to-infinitive | fish *not said here* |  | fish |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer she=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **refuse** | past | husband |  |  | account of fish's condition |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **account** |  |  | fish's condition |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **condition** |  | fish |  |  |  |  |  | nom condition «state 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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