---
title: This meant that all the women slaves had to work very hard indeed, a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: This meant that all the women slaves had to work very hard indeed, and they could get no help from their husbands in any way, as at first cock-crow all the men were sent off to the farm to work, and were not allowed to return until the evening. Who acts: This, women slaves, SLAVES, first cock crow. 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 87

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This meant that all the women slaves had to work very hard indeed, and they could get no help from their husbands in any way, as at first cock-crow all the men were sent off to the farm to work, and were not allowed to return until the evening.

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**Who acts:** This, women slaves, SLAVES, first cock crow · **What happens:** mean, have, work, get, send off, not allow · **To what, where:** help, way, men, farm · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, women slaves, SLAVES, first cock crow), 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:pg70959:19:87
# text = This meant that all the women slaves had to work very hard indeed, and they could get no help from their husbands in any way, as at first cock-crow all the men were sent off to the farm to work, and were not allowed to return until the evening.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nsubj	_	_
2	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	7	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	compound	_	_
7	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	very	very	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
13	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
19	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	20	det	_	_
20	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	from	from	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	husbands	husband	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	26	det	_	_
26	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
30	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	33	amod	_	_
31	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	parataxis	_	_
34	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	36	det:predet	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj:pass	_	_
37	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
38	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	acl:relcl	_	_
39	off	off	ADP	RP	_	38	compound:prt	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
47	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux:pass	_	_
48	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	49	advmod	_	_
49	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	xcomp	_	_
52	until	until	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | past | This |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | past | all women slaves |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **work** | to-infinitive | all women slaves *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hard, indeed *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **get** | could | SLAVES *= slave* | no help |  | any way |  | from SLAVES's husbands; first cock crow *parataxis* | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent help=Theme from husband=Source |
| 5 | **send off** | past · passive | first cock crow *not said here* | all men |  | the farm |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to farm=Destination |
| 6 | **work** | to-infinitive | first cock crow *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **not** **allow** | past · passive | This *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **return** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | This *not said here* |  |  |  | evening |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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.

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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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