---
title: One day when he was vexed with a slave, he tied him up to a tree and… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: One day when he was vexed with a slave, he tied him up to a tree and led the driver ants to him, so that he died in great agony. Who acts: Oga. 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 depen
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 44

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One day when he was vexed with a slave, he tied him up to a tree and led the driver ants to him, so that he died in great agony.

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**Who acts:** Oga · **What happens:** vex, tie up, lead, die · **To what, where:** Oga, father, driver ants

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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 (Oga), 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:pg70959:20:44
# text = One day when he was vexed with a slave, he tied him up to a tree and led the driver ants to him, so that he died in great agony.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	vexed	vex	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl:relcl	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	tied	tie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	up	up	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	led	lead	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	driver	driver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	29	mark	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	fixed	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	agony	agony	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vex** | past · passive |  | Oga |  |  |  | with a slave | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **tie up** | past | Oga | father |  |  | day | to a tree | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient to tree=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **lead** | past | Oga *not said here* | the driver ants | Oga |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent ant=Theme to he=Destination |
| 4 | **die** | past | Oga |  |  |  |  | in great agony | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in agony=Attribute |

<!-- .note -->
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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