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title: The people and chiefs were very glad to see him, and asked him to pl… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The people and chiefs were very glad to see him, and asked him to play and sing for them, which he did. Who acts: people, Oga. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, with its dependency tree and th
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 23

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The people and chiefs were very glad to see him, and asked him to play and sing for them, which he did.

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**Who acts:** people, Oga · **What happens:** be, see, ask, play, sing, do · **To what, where:** Oga

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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 (people, Oga), 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:pg70959:18:23
# text = The people and chiefs were very glad to see him, and asked him to play and sing for them, which he did.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	glad	glad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	obj	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the people and chiefs |  |  |  |  | glad *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive | the people and chiefs *not said here* | Oga |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | Oga |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **play** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **sing** *speech: express* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | for people | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for they=Recipient |
| 6 | **do** | past | Oga |  |  |  |  | which *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Eventuality |

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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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