---
title: Finding this plot had failed, the chief went again to the ju-ju man… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Finding this plot had failed, the chief went again to the ju-ju man and told him that Obim had refused to drink the tombo. Who acts: chief, Obim. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., with its dependency 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 85

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Finding this plot had failed, the chief went again to the ju-ju man and told him that Obim had refused to drink the tombo.

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**Who acts:** chief, Obim · **What happens:** find, fail, go, tell, refuse, not drink · **To what, where:** chief, tombo · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (chief, Obim), 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:pg70959:17:85
# text = Finding this plot had failed, the chief went again to the ju-ju man and told him that Obim had refused to drink the tombo.
1	Finding	find	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	nsubj	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	plot	plot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	failed	fail	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
10	again	again	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
13	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	iobj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	Obim	Obim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	refused	refuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	ccomp	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	tombo	tombo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **fail** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | this plot *nsubj* | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **go** | past | the chief |  |  |  | again | to the ju man | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to man=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the chief *not said here* |  | chief |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **refuse** | past · perfect | Obim |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **drink** | to-infinitive | Obim *not said here* | the tombo |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tombo=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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