---
title: After he had flattered Abang for some time, he took off his skin and… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: After he had flattered Abang for some time, he took off his skin and placed it on the ground and asked Abang to do the same so that they could change skins for a short time. Who acts: Oga, Abang. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Yo
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 12

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After he had flattered Abang for some time, he took off his skin and placed it on the ground and asked Abang to do the same so that they could change skins for a short time.

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**Who acts:** Oga, Abang · **What happens:** flatter, take off, place, ask, do, change · **To what, where:** Abang, skin, mind, ground, same, skins

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Oga, Abang), 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:pg70959:18:12
# text = After he had flattered Abang for some time, he took off his skin and placed it on the ground and asked Abang to do the same so that they could change skins for a short time.
1	After	after	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	flattered	flatter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
5	Abang	Abang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	off	off	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
23	Abang	Abang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	iobj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	obj	_	_
28	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	32	mark	_	_
29	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	fixed	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
33	skins	skin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
34	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flatter** | past · perfect | Oga | Abang |  |  | time |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus abang=Experiencer |
| 2 | **take off** | past | Oga | Oga's skin |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Theme |
| 3 | **place** | past | Oga *not said here* | mind |  | the ground |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme on ground=Destination |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Oga *not said here* |  | Abang |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent abang=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Oga *not said here* | the same |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent same=Eventuality |
| 6 | **change** | could | Abang | skins |  |  | time |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Patient |

<!-- .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.

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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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