---
title: Very frequently the men slaves were severely flogged by order of the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Very frequently the men slaves were severely flogged by order of the chief, if he were not satisfied with the amount of work done on the farm, or if they annoyed him in any way. Who acts: order, crow. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bende
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 88

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Very frequently the men slaves were severely flogged by order of the chief, if he were not satisfied with the amount of work done on the farm, or if they annoyed him in any way.

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**Who acts:** order, crow · **What happens:** flog, not be, do, order, amount · **To what, where:** men slaves, amount, farm, chief, work

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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 (order, 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:pg70959:19:88
# text = Very frequently the men slaves were severely flogged by order of the chief, if he were not satisfied with the amount of work done on the farm, or if they annoyed him in any way.
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	frequently	frequently	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	compound	_	_
5	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
7	severely	severely	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	flogged	flog	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	satisfied	satisfied	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	amount	amount	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
25	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
31	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	annoyed	annoyed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	37	det	_	_
37	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flog** | past · passive | order of the chief | men slaves |  |  |  | severely *property* | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | crow |  |  |  |  | with the amount of work; satisfied *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** | participle |  | the amount of work *not said here* |  | the farm |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **order** |  |  | the chief |  |  |  |  | nom order «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 5 | **amount** |  |  | work |  |  |  |  | nom amount «possession transitive»: of=patient |

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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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