---
title: Having bought twenty-five yams and one cock, he took them, together… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Having bought twenty-five yams and one cock, he took them, together with the calabash of tombo, and gave them to Chief Erim as his present. Who acts: Chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, w
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 22

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Having bought twenty-five yams and one cock, he took them, together with the calabash of tombo, and gave them to Chief Erim as his present.

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**Who acts:** Chief · **What happens:** have, buy, take, give · **To what, where:** bought five yams, yams

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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), 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:pg70959:20:22
# text = Having bought twenty-five yams and one cock, he took them, together with the calabash of tombo, and gave them to Chief Erim as his present.
1	Having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
2	bought	buy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	amod	_	_
3	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	yams	yam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	together	together	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	calabash	calabash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	tombo	tombo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	iobj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	flat	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | gerund | Chief *not said here* | bought five yams and one cock |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yam=Patient |
| 2 | **buy** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **take** | past | Chief | yams *= yam* |  |  |  | with the calabash of tombo | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 4 | **give** | past | Chief *not said here* |  | yams *= yam* |  |  | to Chief; as Chief's present | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Theme to chief=Recipient |

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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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