---
title: The late chief chose the latter alternative, so he performed the ope… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The late chief chose the latter alternative, so he performed the operation. Who acts: late chief, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 153

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The late chief chose the latter alternative, so he performed the operation.

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**Who acts:** late chief, chief · **What happens:** choose, perform · **To what, where:** operation

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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 (late chief, chief), 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:pg70959:17:153
# text = The late chief chose the latter alternative, so he performed the operation.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	latter	latter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	alternative	alternative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	performed	perform	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	operation	operation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | past | the late chief |  |  |  |  | alternative *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **perform** | past | chief | the operation |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent operation=Theme |

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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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