---
title: This was done, but instead of getting better, chief Erim died in les… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: This was done, but instead of getting better, chief Erim died in less than a month, and his son Oga Erim inherited his father’s property. Who acts: Erim, son. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3,
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 39

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This was done, but instead of getting better, chief Erim died in less than a month, and his son Oga Erim inherited his father’s property.

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**Who acts:** Erim, son · **What happens:** do, get, die, inherit · **To what, where:** This, property

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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 (Erim, son), 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:pg70959:20:39
# text = This was done, but instead of getting better, chief Erim died in less than a month, and his son Oga Erim inherited his father’s property.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	8	mark	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
9	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	chief	chief	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
12	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	18	advmod	_	_
16	than	than	ADP	IN	_	15	fixed	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
23	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	appos	_	_
24	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	flat	_	_
25	inherited	inherit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’s	's	PART	POS	_	27	case	_	_
29	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	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 | **do** | past · passive |  | This |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **get** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **die** | past | Erim |  |  |  | month |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **inherit** | past | Chief's son | Chief's father's property |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent property=Theme |

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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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