---
title: ’Nyambi then asked the chiefs whether he was justified in the course… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: ’Nyambi then asked the chiefs whether he was justified in the course he had taken or not; and the chiefs, after consultation, agreed that he had done right. Who acts: Nyambi, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/155/)

<!-- 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/) / [Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/) / 155

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 155

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
’Nyambi then asked the chiefs whether he was justified in the course he had taken or not; and the chiefs, after consultation, agreed that he had done right.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Nyambi, chief · **What happens:** ask, be, take, agree, do · **To what, where:** chiefs, course · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Nyambi, chief), 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:pg70959:17:155
# text = ’Nyambi then asked the chiefs whether he was justified in the course he had taken or not; and the chiefs, after consultation, agreed that he had done right.
1	’	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Nyambi	Nyambi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	justified	justified	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	acl:relcl	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	after	after	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	consultation	consultation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	ccomp	_	_
32	right	right	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Nyambi | the chiefs |  |  | then |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | past | chief |  |  | the course |  | justified *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **take** | past · perfect | chief | the course *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Theme |
| 4 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **do** | past · perfect | chief |  |  |  |  | right *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 154](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/154/)
- next →: [sentence 156](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/156/)
- ↑ back to [Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/)