---
title: At last, when ’Nyambi was about twenty-five years of age, he met a g… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: At last, when ’Nyambi was about twenty-five years of age, he met a girl at a big dance, to whom he took a great fancy, and whom he wished to marry. Who acts: Nyambi. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 67

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At last, when ’Nyambi was about twenty-five years of age, he met a girl at a big dance, to whom he took a great fancy, and whom he wished to marry.

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**Who acts:** Nyambi · **What happens:** be, meet, take, wish, marry · **To what, where:** five years, girl, big dance, great fancy

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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 (Nyambi), 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:pg70959:17:67
# text = At last, when ’Nyambi was about twenty-five years of age, he met a girl at a big dance, to whom he took a great fancy, and whom he wished to marry.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
5	’	'	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Nyambi	Nyambi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
8	about	about	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	parataxis	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	dance	dance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	28	obl	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	fancy	fancy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	28	parataxis	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	acl:relcl	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Nyambi | five years |  |  | of age |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **meet** | past | NYAMBI | a girl |  | a big dance |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent girl=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **take** | past | NYAMBI | a great fancy |  |  |  | whom *obl* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent fancy=Theme to whom=Destination |
| 4 | **wish** | past | NYAMBI |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **marry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | NYAMBI *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

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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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