---
title: Ogbaja knew all about these men, and was afraid to meet them, so he… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Ogbaja knew all about these men, and was afraid to meet them, so he always gathered mangoes at a time when he knew they would not be near the tree. Who acts: Ogbaja, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 12

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Ogbaja knew all about these men, and was afraid to meet them, so he always gathered mangoes at a time when he knew they would not be near the tree.

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**Who acts:** Ogbaja, people · **What happens:** know, be, meet, gather, not be · **To what, where:** people, mangoes, tree · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ogbaja, people), 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:pg70959:14:12
# text = Ogbaja knew all about these men, and was afraid to meet them, so he always gathered mangoes at a time when he knew they would not be near the tree.
1	Ogbaja	Ogbaja	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	18	advmod	_	_
18	gathered	gather	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
19	mangoes	mango	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
23	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	cop	_	_
30	near	near	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | Ogbaja |  |  |  |  | about this men; all *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer about man=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | Ogbaja *not said here* |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **meet** | to-infinitive | Ogbaja *not said here* | people |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **gather** | past | Ogbaja | mangoes |  |  | time | always *property* | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mango=Theme |
| 5 | **know** | past | Ogbaja |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **not** **is** | would | people |  |  | the tree |  |  | tree rules |

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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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