---
title: He was very poor, and consequently was often starving, as he was una… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He was very poor, and consequently was often starving, as he was unable to go about and beg for food. Who acts: 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 the pragmati
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 8

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He was very poor, and consequently was often starving, as he was unable to go about and beg for food.

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**Who acts:** Oga · **What happens:** be, starve, go about, beg

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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), 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:pg70959:18:8
# text = He was very poor, and consequently was often starving, as he was unable to go about and beg for food.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	consequently	consequently	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	often	often	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	about	about	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	beg	beg	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Oga |  |  |  |  | poor *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **starve** | past · progressive | Oga *not said here* |  |  |  |  | consequently, often *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | Oga |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **go about** | to-infinitive | Oga *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **beg** *speech: request* | present | Oga *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for food | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent for food=Topic |

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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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