---
title: But Chief Erim was angry, and said that the head slave’s wife ought… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But Chief Erim was angry, and said that the head slave’s wife ought to know better and should set a good example to the other slaves. Who acts: Chief Erim, wife. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 11

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But Chief Erim was angry, and said that the head slave’s wife ought to know better and should set a good example to the other slaves.

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**Who acts:** Chief Erim, wife · **What happens:** be, say, know, set · **To what, where:** good example · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chief Erim, wife), 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:pg70959:20:11
# text = But Chief Erim was angry, and said that the head slave’s wife ought to know better and should set a good example to the other slaves.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	’s	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
15	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
18	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	17	advmod	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	example	example	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Chief Erim |  |  |  |  | angry *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Chief Erim *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **know** | ought | the head slave's wife |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **set** | should | the head slave's wife *not said here* | a good example |  |  |  | to the other slaves | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient example=Result |

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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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