---
title: When the house was burnt down, Ogbaja went inside to see that all th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the house was burnt down, Ogbaja went inside to see that all the witches were dead, and counted the bodies, but could only find seven. Who acts: Ogbaja, witches. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its de
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 57

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When the house was burnt down, Ogbaja went inside to see that all the witches were dead, and counted the bodies, but could only find seven.

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**Who acts:** Ogbaja, witches · **What happens:** burnt down, go, see, be, count, find · **To what, where:** house, bodies, seven · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Ogbaja, 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:pg70959:14:57
# text = When the house was burnt down, Ogbaja went inside to see that all the witches were dead, and counted the bodies, but could only find seven.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	burnt	burnt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	down	down	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	Ogbaja	Ogbaja	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	inside	inside	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
14	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	16	det:predet	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
17	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	counted	count	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	only	only	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
29	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burnt down** | past · passive |  | the house |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | past | Ogbaja |  |  |  |  | inside *property* | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | Ogbaja *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | past | all witches |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **count** | past | Ogbaja *not said here* | the bodies |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Theme |
| 6 | **find** | could | Ogbaja *not said here* | seven |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seven=Topic |

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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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