--- title: They told the real Abang that they were sorry they could not give hi… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: They told the real Abang that they were sorry they could not give him any more presents, and that the best thing he could do was to help himself from the things which had been given to Oga in his name. Who acts: people, Oga, best thing. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elph --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/18/42/) [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/) / 42 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 42 They told the real Abang that they were sorry they could not give him any more presents, and that the best thing he could do was to help himself from the things which had been given to Oga in his name. **Who acts:** people, Oga, best thing · **What happens:** tell, be, not give, do, give, name · **To what, where:** real Abang, more presents, Oga, best thing, things, name · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, best thing), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:18:42 # text = They told the real Abang that they were sorry they could not give him any more presents, and that the best thing he could do was to help himself from the things which had been given to Oga in his name. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 real real ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 Abang Abang PROPN NNP Number=Sing 2 iobj _ _ 6 that that SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 7 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 8 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 cop _ _ 9 sorry sorry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 ccomp _ _ 10 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 11 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 12 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 13 advmod _ _ 13 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 ccomp _ _ 14 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 iobj _ _ 15 any any ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 16 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 17 amod _ _ 17 presents present NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 20 that that SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 23 amod _ _ 23 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nsubj _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 acl:relcl _ _ 27 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 cop _ _ 28 to to PART TO _ 29 mark _ _ 29 help help VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 ccomp _ _ 30 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 29 obj _ _ 31 from from ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 obl _ _ 34 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 37 nsubj _ _ 35 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 36 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 37 aux:pass _ _ 37 given give VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 33 acl:relcl _ _ 38 to to ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 Oga Oga PROPN NNP Number=Sing 37 obl _ _ 40 in in ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 42 name name NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | people | | the real Abang | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent abang=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **is** | past | people | | | | | sorry *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **not** **give** | could | people | more presents | Oga | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient present=Theme | | 4 | **do** | could | Oga | the best thing *not said here* | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | | 5 | **is** *not said to happen* | past | the best thing | | | the things | | Oga *obj*; help *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **give** | past · perfect · passive | | the things | Oga | Oga's name | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to oga=Recipient | | 7 | **name** | | Oga | | | | | | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/18/41/) - next →: [sentence 43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/18/43/) - ↑ back to [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/18/)