---
title: Very soon, the seven witches were quite drunk, and lay down in the h… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Very soon, the seven witches were quite drunk, and lay down in the house which had been set apart for them, and went fast asleep. Who acts: seven witches. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its dependency tre
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 53

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Very soon, the seven witches were quite drunk, and lay down in the house which had been set apart for them, and went fast asleep.

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**Who acts:** seven witches · **What happens:** be, lay down, set apart, go · **To what, where:** house

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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 (seven 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:pg70959:14:53
# text = Very soon, the seven witches were quite drunk, and lay down in the house which had been set apart for them, and went fast asleep.
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	drunk	drunk	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
13	down	down	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	apart	apart	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
27	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	advmod	_	_
28	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the seven witches |  |  |  |  | drunk, soon *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **lay down** | infinitive | the seven witches *not said here* |  |  | the house |  | down *property* | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in house=Destination |
| 3 | **set apart** | past · perfect · passive |  | the house |  |  |  | for witches *= witch*; apart *property* | vn preparing-26.3-2 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Patient for they=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **go** | past | the seven witches *not said here* |  |  |  |  | asleep, fast *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «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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