---
title: But Eba said he was not afraid, and as his father did not like to re… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But Eba said he was not afraid, and as his father did not like to refuse his favourite son anything he allowed him to go, and told his people to sit down and wait until Eba came back. Who acts: Eba, father. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Hap
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 82

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But Eba said he was not afraid, and as his father did not like to refuse his favourite son anything he allowed him to go, and told his people to sit down and wait until Eba came back.

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**Who acts:** Eba, father · **What happens:** say, not be, not like, refuse, allow, go · **To what, where:** anything, Eba, people · **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 (Eba, father), 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:pg70959:12:83
# text = But Eba said he was not afraid, and as his father did not like to refuse his favourite son anything he allowed him to go, and told his people to sit down and wait until Eba came back.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Eba	Eba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
13	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	refuse	refuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
19	favourite	favourite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
20	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	17	obj	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	allowed	allow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	iobj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	iobj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
34	down	down	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
37	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
38	Eba	Eba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
39	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	advcl	_	_
40	back	back	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Eba |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** | past | Eba |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **like** | past · do-support | Eba's father |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **refuse** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Eba's father *not said here* | anything |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Theme |
| 5 | **allow** | past | father |  | Eba |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer he=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Eba *not said here* |  | Eba's people |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent people=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 8 | **sit down** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Eba *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **wait** | infinitive | Eba *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **come back** | past | Eba |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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