---
title: As Oghabi only had one good friend he did not want to promise what t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: As Oghabi only had one good friend he did not want to promise what the ju-ju man asked, but his wife, who had great faith in the ju-ju man, at last persuaded him to pass his word. Who acts: OGHABI, ju man, wife, man. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 32

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As Oghabi only had one good friend he did not want to promise what the ju-ju man asked, but his wife, who had great faith in the ju-ju man, at last persuaded him to pass his word.

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**Who acts:** OGHABI, ju man, wife, man · **What happens:** have, not want, promise, ask, persuade, pass · **To what, where:** great faith, man, last, word · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (OGHABI, ju man, wife, man), 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:pg70959:12:32
# text = As Oghabi only had one good friend he did not want to promise what the ju-ju man asked, but his wife, who had great faith in the ju-ju man, at last persuaded him to pass his word.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	Oghabi	Oghabi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
6	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	vocative	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	promise	promise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	20	obj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
16	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
28	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	faith	faith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
32	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	at	at	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	obl	_	_
39	persuaded	persuade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	advcl	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  |  | as Oghabi | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **want** | past · do-support | OGHABI |  |  |  |  | one good friend *vocative* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **promise** *speech: promise* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | OGHABI *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the ju man |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Recipient |
| 5 | **have** | past | man's wife | great faith |  |  |  | in the ju man | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent faith=Patient |
| 6 | **persuade** | past | man's wife | man |  | last |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 7 | **pass** | to-infinitive | man's wife *not said here* | man's word |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme word=Trajectory |
| 8 | **word** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication 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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