---
title: As there was no one besides the boy to give evidence the chief said… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: As there was no one besides the boy to give evidence the chief said he could not treat Oghabi as a poisoner. Who acts: one, chief, OGHABI. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., with its depende
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 55

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As there was no one besides the boy to give evidence the chief said he could not treat Oghabi as a poisoner.

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**Who acts:** one, chief, OGHABI · **What happens:** be, give, say, not treat · **To what, where:** evidence, Oghabi · **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 (one, chief, OGHABI), 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:pg70959:12:55
# text = As there was no one besides the boy to give evidence the chief said he could not treat Oghabi as a poisoner.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	besides	beside	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
11	evidence	evidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	treat	treat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
19	Oghabi	Oghabi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
20	as	as	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	poisoner	poisoner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | no one |  |  |  |  | the boy *obj*; beside *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | to-infinitive | no one *not said here* | evidence |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent evidence=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the chief | evidence *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **treat** | could | OGHABI | Oghabi |  |  |  | as a poisoner | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent oghabi=Theme as poisoner=Attribute |

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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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