---
title: They had always been great friends since they were boys, and when th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: They had always been great friends since they were boys, and when they grew up they made farms in the same place and used to feed together. Who acts: friends. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Acciden
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 14

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They had always been great friends since they were boys, and when they grew up they made farms in the same place and used to feed together.

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**Who acts:** friends · **What happens:** have, be, grow up, make, use, feed · **To what, where:** great friends, farms, same place

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (friends), 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:pg70959:12:14
# text = They had always been great friends since they were boys, and when they grew up they made farms in the same place and used to feed together.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	cop	_	_
5	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
7	since	since	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
19	farms	farm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	feed	feed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	together	together	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | friends *= friend* |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | participle |  | great friends |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | friends *= friend* |  |  |  | since boys |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **grow up** | past | friends *= friend* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **make** | past | friends *= friend* | farms |  | the same place |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset farm=Product |
| 6 | **use** | past | friends *= friend* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **feed** | to-infinitive | friends *= friend* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=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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