---
title: When the chief heard that Oga had come, he at once sent a message to… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the chief heard that Oga had come, he at once sent a message to Abang’s parents requesting them to come to Inkum as soon as possible and to bring their son with them. Who acts: chief, Oga, parents. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Ben
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/18/35/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Change…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/18/) / 35

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the chief heard that Oga had come, he at once sent a message to Abang’s parents requesting them to come to Inkum as soon as possible and to bring their son with them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** chief, Oga, parents · **What happens:** hear, come, send, request, bring · **To what, where:** message, parents, chiefs, Inkum, son · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (chief, Oga, parents), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:18:35
# text = When the chief heard that Oga had come, he at once sent a message to Abang’s parents requesting them to come to Inkum as soon as possible and to bring their son with them.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	conj	_	_
12	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	13	advmod	_	_
13	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	Abang	Abang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	’s	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	_
19	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
20	requesting	request	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	acl	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	Inkum	Inkum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
26	as	as	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	23	advmod	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	advcl	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
33	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **come** | past · perfect | Oga |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **send** | past | Oga | a message | Abang's parents |  |  | once *property* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent message=Theme to parent=Destination |
| 4 | **request** | gerund | Abang's parents *not said here* | chiefs *= chief* |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 5 | **come** | to-infinitive | Abang's parents *not said here* |  |  | Inkum |  | soon *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to inkum=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **bring** | to-infinitive | Abang's parents *not said here* |  | chiefs's son |  |  | with chiefs *= chief* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument son=Destination |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/18/34/)
- next →: [sentence 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/18/36/)
- ↑ back to [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/18/)