--- title: When they had heard the whole story, the members of ’Nyambi’s compan… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: When they had heard the whole story, the members of ’Nyambi’s company agreed to back him up, and as they were the principal fighting-men of the town they went to the palaver house without much fear. Who acts: men, company. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrel --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/138/) [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/) / [Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/) / 138 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 138 When they had heard the whole story, the members of ’Nyambi’s company agreed to back him up, and as they were the principal fighting-men of the town they went to the palaver house without much fear. **Who acts:** men, company · **What happens:** hear, agree, back up, be, go · **To what, where:** whole story, company, town This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, company), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:17:138 # text = When they had heard the whole story, the members of ’Nyambi’s company agreed to back him up, and as they were the principal fighting-men of the town they went to the palaver house without much fear. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 members member NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 parataxis _ _ 11 of of SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 12 ’ ' PUNCT `` _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 Nyambi Nyambi PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 14 ’s 's PART POS _ 13 case _ _ 15 company company NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ _ 16 agreed agree VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 advcl _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 back back VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 xcomp _ _ 19 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ _ 20 up up ADP RP _ 18 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 23 as as ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 24 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 25 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 cop _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 27 principal principal ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 28 fighting fighting NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 29 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 town town NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ _ 34 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 acl:relcl _ _ 36 to to ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 38 palaver palaver NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 compound _ _ 39 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 40 without without ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 fear fear NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hear** | past · perfect | men *= man* | the whole story | | | | the members *parataxis* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus | | 2 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | Nyambi's company | | | | | | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **back up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Nyambi's company *not said here* | company | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Agent | | 4 | **is** | past | men *= man* | | | | | as the principal fighting men; of the town | tree rules | | 5 | **go** | past | men *= man* | the town *not said here* | | | | to the palaver house; without much fear | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location town=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 137](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/137/) - next →: [sentence 139](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/139/) - ↑ back to [Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/)