---
title: As Oga Erim was unable to walk, the head slave ordered four slaves t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: As Oga Erim was unable to walk, the head slave ordered four slaves to carry their master to his farm. Who acts: Oga, head slave. 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 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 54

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As Oga Erim was unable to walk, the head slave ordered four slaves to carry their master to his farm.

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**Who acts:** Oga, head slave · **What happens:** be, walk, order, carry · **To what, where:** four slaves, master, farm

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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, head slave), 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:pg70959:20:54
# text = As Oga Erim was unable to walk, the head slave ordered four slaves to carry their master to his farm.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	Oga	Oga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	Erim	Erim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	flat	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	ordered	order	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
13	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Oga |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **walk** | to-infinitive | Oga *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **order** | participle | the head slave | four slaves |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slave=Theme |
| 4 | **carry** | to-infinitive | the head slave *not said here* | slaves's master |  | Oga's farm |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent master=Theme to farm=Destination |

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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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