---
title: It is a universal custom throughout the district that when food or d… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: It is a universal custom throughout the district that when food or drink is brought for strangers the provider of the food should first taste it, to show that it is not poisoned. Who acts: Note, provider. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happe
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 61

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It is a universal custom throughout the district that when food or drink is brought for strangers the provider of the food should first taste it, to show that it is not poisoned.

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**Who acts:** Note, provider · **What happens:** be, bring, taste, show, not poison · **To what, where:** universal custom, food, Note · **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 (Note, provider), 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:pg70959:12:62
# text = It is a universal custom throughout the district that when food or drink is brought for strangers the provider of the food should first taste it, to show that it is not poisoned.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	universal	universal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	throughout	throughout	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	district	district	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obj	_	_
10	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	15	mark	_	_
11	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	drink	drink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	strangers	stranger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	provider	provider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	25	advmod	_	_
25	taste	taste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	parataxis	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	poisoned	poison	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Note | a universal custom |  |  | throughout the district |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **bring** | present · passive |  | food or drink |  |  |  | for strangers; that *obj* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme that=Destination |
| 3 | **taste** | should | the provider of the food | Note |  |  |  | first *property* | vn seem-109 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Theme it=Attribute |
| 4 | **show** | to-infinitive | the provider of the food *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **poison** | present · passive |  | Note |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

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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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