---
title: The seven men were burnt to death, as they were too drunk to escape,… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The seven men were burnt to death, as they were too drunk to escape, but the cripple managed to crawl into a large water-pot which was kept in the room for drinking-water, and the fire did not hurt him, as he only kept his mouth just out of the water. Who acts: witches, cripple, fire. A sentence of 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/56/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/) / 56

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 56

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The seven men were burnt to death, as they were too drunk to escape, but the cripple managed to crawl into a large water-pot which was kept in the room for drinking-water, and the fire did not hurt him, as he only kept his mouth just out of the water.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** witches, cripple, fire · **What happens:** burnt, be, escape, manage, crawl, keep · **To what, where:** seven men, large water pot, room, cripple, mouth, water

<!-- .vabout -->
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, cripple, fire), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:14:56
# text = The seven men were burnt to death, as they were too drunk to escape, but the cripple managed to crawl into a large water-pot which was kept in the room for drinking-water, and the fire did not hurt him, as he only kept his mouth just out of the water.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	burnt	burnt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	too	too	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	drunk	drunk	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	cripple	cripple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	managed	manage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	crawl	crawl	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	into	into	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
25	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
26	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl:relcl	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	for	for	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	drinking	drinking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
43	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
44	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	45	advmod	_	_
45	hurt	hurt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
46	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
48	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
49	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
50	only	only	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
52	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
54	just	just	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
55	out	out	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burnt** | past · passive |  | the seven men |  |  |  | to death | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | witches *= witch* |  |  |  |  | drunk *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **escape** | to-infinitive | witches *= witch* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **manage** | past | the cripple |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **crawl** | to-infinitive | the cripple *not said here* |  |  | a large water pot |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into pot=Destination |
| 6 | **keep** | past · passive |  | a large water pot |  | the room for drinking water |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in room=Location |
| 7 | **not** **hurt** | past · do-support | the fire | cripple |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Patient |
| 8 | **keep** | past | fire | fire's mouth |  | the water |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent mouth=Theme out water=Location |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/55/)
- next →: [sentence 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/57/)
- ↑ back to [Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/)