---
title: The slaves then discussed the best way to kill Oga Erim. — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The slaves then discussed the best way to kill Oga Erim. Who acts: slaves. 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 dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 48

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The slaves then discussed the best way to kill Oga Erim.

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**Who acts:** slaves · **What happens:** discuss, kill · **To what, where:** best way, Oga

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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), 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:pg70959:20:48
# text = The slaves then discussed the best way to kill Oga Erim.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	discussed	discuss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	_
10	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
11	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **discuss** *speech: other* | past | the slaves | the best way |  |  | then |  | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Topic |
| 2 | **kill** | to-infinitive | the slaves *not said here* | Oga |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oga=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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