---
title: It did not take the slaves long to realize that they were very littl… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: It did not take the slaves long to realize that they were very little better off for the death of their late master, as Oga Erim carried on much in the same way as his father had. Who acts: It, slaves, Oga, father. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.-
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 42

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It did not take the slaves long to realize that they were very little better off for the death of their late master, as Oga Erim carried on much in the same way as his father had.

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**Who acts:** It, slaves, Oga, father, late master · **What happens:** not take, realize, be, carry on, have, die · **To what, where:** slaves, much

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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 (It, slaves, Oga, father), 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:pg70959:20:42
# text = It did not take the slaves long to realize that they were very little better off for the death of their late master, as Oga Erim carried on much in the same way as his father had.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	realize	realize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	very	very	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	little	little	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
15	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	advcl	_	_
16	off	off	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
27	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	flat	_	_
28	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
29	on	on	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	obj	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
35	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **take** | past · do-support | It | the slaves |  |  |  | long *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slave=Theme |
| 2 | **realize** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | past | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  | for the death of slaves's late master; good, little *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **carry on** | past | Oga | much in the same way |  |  |  |  | vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent much=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | past | Oga's father |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **die** |  | slaves's late master |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: of=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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