---
title: When they arrived, a report was sent round the whole country that th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they arrived, a report was sent round the whole country that the big wooden drum, the destroyer of men, was dead. Who acts: people, big wooden drum. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its dependency tree
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 133

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When they arrived, a report was sent round the whole country that the big wooden drum, the destroyer of men, was dead.

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**Who acts:** people, big wooden drum · **What happens:** arrive, send, be · **To what, where:** report

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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 (people, big wooden 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:pg70959:14:133
# text = When they arrived, a report was sent round the whole country that the big wooden drum, the destroyer of men, was dead.
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	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	report	report	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	round	round	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
16	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	destroyer	destroyer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	appos	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **send** | past · passive |  | a report |  |  |  | round the whole country | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | the big wooden drum |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | 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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