---
title: I will paint one of your children every day and show it to you, but… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: I will paint one of your children every day and show it to you, but you must first of all build me a house, into which you must put all your children, with plenty of food and firewood.” Who acts: I, you. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story o
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I will paint one of your children every day and show it to you, but you must first of all build me a house, into which you must put all your children, with plenty of food and firewood.”

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**Who acts:** I, you · **What happens:** paint, show, build, put · **To what, where:** one, colouring, you, house, me, children

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, you), 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:pg70959:16:28
# text = I will paint one of your children every day and show it to you, but you must first of all build me a house, into which you must put all your children, with plenty of food and firewood.”
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	paint	paint	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
18	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
19	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	22	advmod	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	obl	_	_
22	build	build	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
23	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	into	into	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	obl	_	_
29	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
32	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	34	det:predet	_	_
33	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	firewood	firewood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **paint** | future | I | one of your children |  |  | day |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent one=Destination |
| 2 | **show** | present | I *not said here* | colouring | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Topic to you=Recipient |
| 3 | **build** | must | you | a house | me |  |  | first *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset i=Beneficiary house=Product |
| 4 | **put** | must | you |  | your children |  |  | with plenty of food and firewood; which *obl* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent child=Goal |

<!-- .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.

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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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