---
title: When the drum fell down, Inkang Ezen told the men to work hard and c… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the drum fell down, Inkang Ezen told the men to work hard and cut their way out. Who acts: drum, Inkang. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 127

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When the drum fell down, Inkang Ezen told the men to work hard and cut their way out.

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**Who acts:** drum, Inkang · **What happens:** fall down, tell, work, cut out · **To what, where:** men, way · **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 (drum, Inkang), 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:pg70959:14:127
# text = When the drum fell down, Inkang Ezen told the men to work hard and cut their way out.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
7	Inkang	Inkang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	Ezen	Ezen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	flat	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
14	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	out	out	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall down** | past | the drum |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Inkang |  | the men |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent man=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **work** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Inkang *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **cut out** | infinitive | Inkang *not said here* | razors's way |  |  |  | out *property* | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector way=Eventuality |

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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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