---
title: When they began to cut, the drum felt a great pain in his inside, an… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they began to cut, the drum felt a great pain in his inside, and made such a noise that all the small drums and the cripple came to enquire what the matter was. Who acts: razors, drum, small drums, matter. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 123

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When they began to cut, the drum felt a great pain in his inside, and made such a noise that all the small drums and the cripple came to enquire what the matter was.

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**Who acts:** razors, drum, small drums, matter · **What happens:** begin, cut, feel, make, come, enquire · **To what, where:** great pain, inside, noise

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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 (razors, drum, small drums, matter), 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:pg70959:14:123
# text = When they began to cut, the drum felt a great pain in his inside, and made such a noise that all the small drums and the cripple came to enquire what the matter was.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	pain	pain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	inside	inside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
19	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	21	det:predet	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	obl	_	_
23	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	26	det:predet	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	drums	drum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	cripple	cripple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
30	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	enquire	enquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	32	obj	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | razors *= razor* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **cut** | to-infinitive | razors *= razor* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **feel** | past | the drum | a great pain |  | man's inside |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent pain=Theme in inside=Location |
| 4 | **make** | past | the drum *not said here* | such noise |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset noise=Product |
| 5 | **come** | past | all small drums and the cripple | such noise |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **enquire** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | all small drums and the cripple *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is a** | past | the matter |  |  |  |  |  | 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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