---
title: But Obim told the messenger to tell his master that she could not co… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But Obim told the messenger to tell his master that she could not come to him, but that he might come to her alone at night, and he was to be careful not to let anyone know what was going on between them. Who acts: Obim, messenger, NYAMBI, anyone. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Niger
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 97

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But Obim told the messenger to tell his master that she could not come to him, but that he might come to her alone at night, and he was to be careful not to let anyone know what was going on between them.

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**Who acts:** Obim, messenger, NYAMBI, anyone · **What happens:** tell, not come, come, be, not let, know · **To what, where:** messenger, master, NYAMBI, OBIM, anyone · **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 (Obim, messenger, NYAMBI, anyone), 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:pg70959:17:97
# text = But Obim told the messenger to tell his master that she could not come to him, but that he might come to her alone at night, and he was to be careful not to let anyone know what was going on between them.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Obim	Obim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	_
25	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
33	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	cop	_	_
34	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
35	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	34	parataxis	_	_
38	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	37	obj	_	_
39	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	_
40	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	42	nsubj	_	_
41	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	39	ccomp	_	_
43	on	on	ADP	RP	_	42	compound:prt	_	_
44	between	between	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Obim | the messenger |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent messenger=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the messenger *not said here* | NYAMBI's master |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent master=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **come** | could | OBIM |  | NYAMBI |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **come** | might | NYAMBI |  | OBIM |  | night | alone *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to she=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **is** | past | NYAMBI |  |  |  |  | careful *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **let** | to-infinitive |  | anyone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **know** | infinitive | anyone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 8 | **go on** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  | between presents *= present*; what *nsubj* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme between they=Location |

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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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