--- title: When they came, the big drum told them that he had a bad pain in his… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: When they came, the big drum told them that he had a bad pain in his heart, and thought that the people he had swallowed must be trying to cut their way out. Who acts: razors, big drum, man, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Ri --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/124/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/) / 124 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 124 When they came, the big drum told them that he had a bad pain in his heart, and thought that the people he had swallowed must be trying to cut their way out. **Who acts:** razors, big drum, man, people · **What happens:** come, tell, have, think, swallow, try · **To what, where:** razors, bad pain, heart, man, way · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, big drum, man, people), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:14:124 # text = When they came, the big drum told them that he had a bad pain in his heart, and thought that the people he had swallowed must be trying to cut their way out. 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 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 drum drum NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 8 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 iobj _ _ 10 that that SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _ 11 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 ccomp _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 14 bad bad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 pain pain NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 16 in in ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 18 nmod:poss _ _ 18 heart heart NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 20 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 21 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 22 that that SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 nsubj _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj:pass _ _ 26 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 swallowed swallow VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 24 acl:relcl _ _ 28 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 29 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 30 aux _ _ 30 trying try VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 21 ccomp _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 cut cut VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 xcomp _ _ 33 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 35 out out ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 36 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **come** | past | razors *= razor* | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the big drum | | razors *= razor* | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **have** | past | man | a bad pain | | man's heart | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pain=Patient | | 4 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the big drum *not said here* | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 5 | **swallow** | past · perfect · passive | the people *not said here* | man | | | | | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 6 | **try** | must · progressive | the people | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 7 | **cut out** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the people *not said here* | razors's way | | | | out *property* | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector way=Eventuality | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 123](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/123/) - next →: [sentence 125](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/125/) - ↑ back to [Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/)