---
title: Needless to say, all the young girls of the country wanted to marry… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Needless to say, all the young girls of the country wanted to marry him, but he looked after himself very well and kept away from the women in general, having his own particular friend to whom he was on the whole fairly faithful. Who acts: young girls, Oga. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Sout
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 5

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Needless to say, all the young girls of the country wanted to marry him, but he looked after himself very well and kept away from the women in general, having his own particular friend to whom he was on the whole fairly faithful.

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**Who acts:** young girls, Oga · **What happens:** say, want, marry, look, keep away, have · **To what, where:** Oga, own particular friend · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (young girls, 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:pg70959:18:5
# text = Needless to say, all the young girls of the country wanted to marry him, but he looked after himself very well and kept away from the women in general, having his own particular friend to whom he was on the whole fairly faithful.
1	Needless	needless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	csubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	8	det:predet	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
20	after	after	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	19	obl	_	_
22	very	very	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	19	advmod	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	conj	_	_
26	away	away	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	from	from	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
35	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
36	particular	particular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
38	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	33	obl	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
41	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
42	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
44	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
45	fairly	fairly	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
46	faithful	faithful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **want** | past | all young girls of the country |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **marry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | all young girls of the country *not said here* | Oga |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 4 | **look** | past | Oga |  |  |  | after Oga | well *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **keep away** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **have** | gerund |  | Oga's own particular friend |  |  |  | whom *obl* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=Patient |
| 7 | **is** | past | Oga |  |  |  |  | fairly, faithful *property* | tree rules |

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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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