---
title: She then ran on and passed several more wooden drums, each one bigge… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: She then ran on and passed several more wooden drums, each one bigger than the last; they all told her to return, but she was obstinate, and still ran on until at last she came to a clearing in the bush where there was an enormous wooden drum held up by forked sticks and resting on the ground. Who a
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 94

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She then ran on and passed several more wooden drums, each one bigger than the last; they all told her to return, but she was obstinate, and still ran on until at last she came to a clearing in the bush where there was an enormous wooden drum held up by forked sticks and resting on the ground.

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**Who acts:** mother, IBANANG · **What happens:** run on, pass, tell, return, be, come · **To what, where:** several wooden drums, mother, last, enormous wooden drum, ground · **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 (mother, IBANANG), 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:pg70959:14:94
# text = She then ran on and passed several more wooden drums, each one bigger than the last; they all told her to return, but she was obstinate, and still ran on until at last she came to a clearing in the bush where there was an enormous wooden drum held up by forked sticks and resting on the ground.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
8	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
9	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	drums	drum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	13	det	_	_
13	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	conj	_	_
15	than	than	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
21	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
22	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	iobj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
29	obstinate	obstinate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	still	still	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	_
35	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	obl	_	_
38	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	advcl	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	clearing	clearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	_
46	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	48	advmod	_	_
47	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	48	expl	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	acl:relcl	_	_
49	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
50	enormous	enormous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
51	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
53	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	52	acl	_	_
54	up	up	ADP	RP	_	53	compound:prt	_	_
55	by	by	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	forked	fork	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	57	amod	_	_
57	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obl	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
59	resting	rest	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	53	conj	_	_
60	on	on	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run on** | past | mother |  |  |  | then |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **pass** | past | mother *not said here* | several wooden drums |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme drum=Trajectory |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | IBANANG |  | mother |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **return** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | IBANANG *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | mother |  |  |  |  | obstinate *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **run on** | past | mother *not said here* |  |  |  | still |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **come** | past | mother |  |  | last |  | to a clearing in the bush | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to clearing=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **hold up** | participle |  | a enormous wooden drum *not said here* |  |  |  | by forked sticks | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 9 | **fork** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **rest** | gerund |  |  |  | the ground |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on ground=Location |

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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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