---
title: After a time things became so bad that the slaves decided that they… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: After a time things became so bad that the slaves decided that they must kill Oga Erim, but they did not like to do so at once, as they thought that the Inkum people might suspect them, in which case they would be tortured in many different ways, so they resolved to wait two years before they reveng
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 45

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After a time things became so bad that the slaves decided that they must kill Oga Erim, but they did not like to do so at once, as they thought that the Inkum people might suspect them, in which case they would be tortured in many different ways, so they resolved to wait two years before they revenged themselves upon their cruel master.

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**Who acts:** slaves, Inkum people · **What happens:** become, decide, kill, not like, do, think · **To what, where:** Oga, slaves, case · **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 (slaves, Inkum people), 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:pg70959:20:45
# text = After a time things became so bad that the slaves decided that they must kill Oga Erim, but they did not like to do so at once, as they thought that the Inkum people might suspect them, in which case they would be tortured in many different ways, so they resolved to wait two years before they revenged themselves upon their cruel master.
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
5	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	decided	decide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
16	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
17	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	Inkum	Inkum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
37	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	suspect	suspect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	ccomp	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	43	det	_	_
43	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
45	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
46	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	aux:pass	_	_
47	tortured	torture	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	conj	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
50	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	so	so	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
54	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
55	resolved	resolve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	advcl	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	_
58	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	59	nummod	_	_
59	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	obl:unmarked	_	_
60	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	62	mark	_	_
61	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	nsubj	_	_
62	revenged	revenge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	advcl	_	_
63	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	62	obj	_	_
64	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
65	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	67	nmod:poss	_	_
66	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	67	amod	_	_
67	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past |  |  |  |  | after a time things | bad *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **decide** | past | the slaves |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **kill** | must | slaves *= slave* | Oga |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oga=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **like** | past · do-support | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | slaves *= slave* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | past | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **suspect** | might | the Inkum people | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent they=Attribute |
| 8 | **torture** | would · passive |  | slaves *= slave* |  | which case |  | in many different ways | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 9 | **resolve** | past | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **wait** | to-infinitive | slaves *= slave* *not said here* |  |  |  | year |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **revenge** | past | slaves *= slave* | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  | upon slaves's cruel master | tree rules |

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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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