---
title: If any of them failed to do so, he tied them up to a tree and they w… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: If any of them failed to do so, he tied them up to a tree and they were given fifty lashes on the back with a heavy whip made of twisted skin. Who acts: any, Inkum. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., p
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 85

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If any of them failed to do so, he tied them up to a tree and they were given fifty lashes on the back with a heavy whip made of twisted skin.

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**Who acts:** any, Inkum · **What happens:** fail, not do, tie up, give, make · **To what, where:** camwood, back, heavy whip

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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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (any, Inkum), 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:pg70959:19:85
# text = If any of them failed to do so, he tied them up to a tree and they were given fifty lashes on the back with a heavy whip made of twisted skin.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nmod	_	_
5	failed	fail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	tied	tie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	up	up	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	conj	_	_
21	fifty	fifty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	_
22	lashes	lash	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	whip	whip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
30	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	twisted	twisted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fail** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | any of camwood |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **not** **do** | to-infinitive | any of camwood *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **tie up** | past | Inkum | camwood |  |  |  | to a tree | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent they=Patient to tree=Co-Patient |
| 4 | **give** | past · passive |  | camwood |  | the back |  | with a heavy whip; fifty lashes *obj* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: subject=Recipient lash=Theme on back=Asset |
| 5 | **make** | participle |  | a heavy whip *not said here* |  |  |  | of twisted skin | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |

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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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