---
title: The chief therefore made up his mind that his youngest son, Oga Erim… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief therefore made up his mind that his youngest son, Oga Erim, should inherit his property, and for several years taught him how to rule the people with a strong hand and to punish them severely if they did not work, as that was the way he had become rich. Who acts: youngest son, people, that
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 5

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The chief therefore made up his mind that his youngest son, Oga Erim, should inherit his property, and for several years taught him how to rule the people with a strong hand and to punish them severely if they did not work, as that was the way he had become rich.

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**Who acts:** youngest son, people, that, son, Chief · **What happens:** make up, inherit, teach, rule, punish, not work · **To what, where:** chief, property, people, way

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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 (youngest son, people, that, son), 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:pg70959:20:5
# text = The chief therefore made up his mind that his youngest son, Oga Erim, should inherit his property, and for several years taught him how to rule the people with a strong hand and to punish them severely if they did not work, as that was the way he had become rich.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	amod	_	_
11	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
14	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	inherit	inherit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
25	taught	teach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	rule	rule	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	punish	punish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	_
40	severely	severely	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
41	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
42	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
43	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
44	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	45	advmod	_	_
45	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
47	as	as	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
48	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	51	nsubj	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	51	acl:relcl	_	_
55	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make up** | participle · passive |  | the chief |  |  |  | Chief's mind *obj*; therefore *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **inherit** | should | Chief's youngest son | Chief's property |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent property=Theme |
| 3 | **teach** *speech: other* | past |  |  | Chief |  | year |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **rule** | to-infinitive |  | the people |  |  |  | with a strong hand | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent people=Result |
| 5 | **punish** | to-infinitive |  | people |  |  |  | severely *property* | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 6 | **not** **work** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · do-support | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | past | that |  |  |  |  | as the way | tree rules |
| 8 | **become** | past · perfect | son | the way *not said here* |  |  |  | rich *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Patient way=Result |
| 9 | **mind** |  | Chief |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=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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