---
title: A certain house would be set aside for the witches to sleep in, and… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: A certain house would be set aside for the witches to sleep in, and they were to be given plenty of tombo to drink, so that they would sleep well. Who acts: witches. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its dep
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 45

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A certain house would be set aside for the witches to sleep in, and they were to be given plenty of tombo to drink, so that they would sleep well.

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**Who acts:** witches · **What happens:** set, sleep in, give, drink, sleep · **To what, where:** certain house, witches

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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 (witches), 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:pg70959:14:45
# text = A certain house would be set aside for the witches to sleep in, and they were to be given plenty of tombo to drink, so that they would sleep well.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	aside	aside	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	acl	_	_
13	in	in	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
17	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
21	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	tombo	tombo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	31	mark	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	fixed	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
32	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set** | would · passive |  | a certain house |  |  |  | for the witches; aside *property* | vn preparing-26.3-2 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Patient for witch=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **sleep in** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **give** | past · passive |  | witches *= witch* |  |  |  | plenty of tombo *obj* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient plenty=Theme |
| 4 | **drink** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **sleep** | would | witches *= witch* |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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