---
title: Messages could also be sent to anyone who understood the beat of the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Messages could also be sent to anyone who understood the beat of the drum. Who acts: anyone. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/74/)

<!-- 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/) / 74

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 74

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Messages could also be sent to anyone who understood the beat of the drum.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** anyone · **What happens:** send, understand · **To what, where:** Messages, beat

<!-- .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 (anyone), 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:pg70959:14:74
# text = Messages could also be sent to anyone who understood the beat of the drum.
1	Messages	message	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	also	also	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	obl:agent	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	beat	beat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | could · passive | anyone | Messages |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 2 | **understand** | past |  | the beat of the drum |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer beat=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/73/)
- next →: [sentence 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/75/)
- ↑ back to [Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/)