--- title: As the time went on Oga Erim became harder on his people, and some o… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: As the time went on Oga Erim became harder on his people, and some of the slaves were flogged and tortured almost every day; he seemed to take great delight in their sufferings, and spent much time in devising new forms of torture. Who acts: time, Oga, slaves. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from S --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/46/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Change…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/) / 46 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 46 As the time went on Oga Erim became harder on his people, and some of the slaves were flogged and tortured almost every day; he seemed to take great delight in their sufferings, and spent much time in devising new forms of torture. **Who acts:** time, Oga, slaves · **What happens:** go, become, flog, torture, seem, take · **To what, where:** some, great delight, sufferings, new forms, torture 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 (time, Oga, slaves), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:20:46 # text = As the time went on Oga Erim became harder on his people, and some of the slaves were flogged and tortured almost every day; he seemed to take great delight in their sufferings, and spent much time in devising new forms of torture. 1 As as SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 on on SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 6 Oga Oga PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 7 Erim Erim PROPN NNP Number=Sing 6 flat _ _ 8 became become VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 9 harder hard ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 8 advmod _ _ 10 on on ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 15 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 20 nsubj:pass _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 slaves slave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nmod _ _ 19 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 aux:pass _ _ 20 flogged flog VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 conj _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 tortured torture VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 20 conj _ _ 23 almost almost ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 24 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 25 det _ _ 25 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 ; ; PUNCT : _ 28 punct _ _ 27 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 30 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 xcomp _ _ 31 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 delight delight NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ _ 33 in in ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 35 nmod:poss _ _ 35 sufferings suffering NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 38 spent spend VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 conj _ _ 39 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obj _ _ 41 in in SCONJ IN _ 42 mark _ _ 42 devising devise VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 38 advcl _ _ 43 new new ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 forms form NOUN NNS Number=Plur 42 obj _ _ 45 of of ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 torture torture NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **go** | past | the time | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **become** | past | Oga | | | | | hard *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 3 | **flog** | past · passive | | some of the slaves | | | | | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 4 | **torture** | participle | | | | | day | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 5 | **seem** | past | Oga | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 6 | **take** | to-infinitive | Oga *not said here* | great delight | | slaves's sufferings | | | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent delight=Value in suffering=Location | | 7 | **spend** | past | Oga *not said here* | | | | time | | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **devise** | gerund | Oga *not said here* | new forms of torture | | | | | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Patient | | 9 | **suffer** | | slaves *= slave* | | | | | | nom suffering «state intransitive»: poss=agent | | 10 | **form** | | | torture | | | | | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/45/) - next →: [sentence 47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/47/) - ↑ back to [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/)