---
title: One year the season was so dry and the sun so hot that Chief ’Njum c… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: One year the season was so dry and the sun so hot that Chief ’Njum could not plant his yams in time, and when he did plant them it was too late, and there was a very bad crop in consequence. Who acts: One year, sun, Njum, bad crop. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinsto
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 4

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One year the season was so dry and the sun so hot that Chief ’Njum could not plant his yams in time, and when he did plant them it was too late, and there was a very bad crop in consequence.

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**Who acts:** One year, sun, Njum, bad crop · **What happens:** be, not plant, plant · **To what, where:** yams

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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 (One year, sun, Njum, bad crop), 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:pg70959:14:4
# text = One year the season was so dry and the sun so hot that Chief ’Njum could not plant his yams in time, and when he did plant them it was too late, and there was a very bad crop in consequence.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	season	season	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
14	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	’	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	Njum	Njum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	plant	plant	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	yams	yam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	plant	plant	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	too	too	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	38	expl	_	_
38	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
40	very	very	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	crop	crop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	consequence	consequence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | One year |  |  |  |  | dry *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the sun |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **plant** | could | Chief's Njum | Njum's yams |  |  | time |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yam=Patient |
| 4 | **plant** | past · do-support | Njum | yams *= yam* |  |  |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | past | sun |  |  |  |  | late *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** | past | a bad crop in consequence |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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