---
title: Chief Erim agreed to this, and told his head slave to take two boxes… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Chief Erim agreed to this, and told his head slave to take two boxes of rods and some fowls as a present to the ju-ju man. Who acts: Chief, some. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, with its dep
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 32

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Chief Erim agreed to this, and told his head slave to take two boxes of rods and some fowls as a present to the ju-ju man.

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**Who acts:** Chief, some · **What happens:** agree, tell, take, fowl · **To what, where:** head slave, two boxes · **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, some), 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:pg70959:20:32
# text = Chief Erim agreed to this, and told his head slave to take two boxes of rods and some fowls as a present to the ju-ju man.
1	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	iobj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
14	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	boxes	box	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	rods	rod	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	nsubj	_	_
20	fowls	fowl	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
26	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | Chief |  |  |  |  | to this | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | Chief's head slave |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent slave=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **take** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | two boxes of rods |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent box=Theme |
| 4 | **fowl** | present | some |  |  |  |  | as a present; to the ju man | vn berry-13.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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