---
title: All this time the men inside the drum were cutting away at his heart… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: All this time the men inside the drum were cutting away at his heart and liver with their razors, until at last the drum got up from his seat, and fell over dead. Who acts: men, last drum. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From t
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 126

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All this time the men inside the drum were cutting away at his heart and liver with their razors, until at last the drum got up from his seat, and fell over dead.

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**Who acts:** men, last drum · **What happens:** cut away, get up, fall over · **To what, where:** seat

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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 (men, last drum), 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:pg70959:14:126
# text = All this time the men inside the drum were cutting away at his heart and liver with their razors, until at last the drum got up from his seat, and fell over dead.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
6	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
11	away	away	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	liver	liver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	razors	razor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
27	up	up	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	seat	seat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
34	over	over	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut away** | past · progressive | the men inside the drum |  |  |  | time | at man's heart and liver with razors's razors; away *property* | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at heart=Patient |
| 2 | **get up** | past | the last drum |  |  | man's seat |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme from seat=Destination |
| 3 | **fall over** | past | the last drum *not said here* |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | vn occur-48.3 «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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