---
title: He then told some of the slaves to carry their master’s body to the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He then told some of the slaves to carry their master’s body to the town, but before this was done he warned all the slaves to be very careful not to keep any of their dead master’s property in their own houses, as they might be accused of stealing, so he advised them all to send their things to the
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 61

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He then told some of the slaves to carry their master’s body to the town, but before this was done he warned all the slaves to be very careful not to keep any of their dead master’s property in their own houses, as they might be accused of stealing, so he advised them all to send their things to their different friends’ houses where they could be kept for them without anyone knowing.

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**Who acts:** Oga, slaves, anyone · **What happens:** tell, carry, do, warn, be, not keep · **To what, where:** slaves, body, town, this, any, own houses · **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 (Oga, slaves, anyone), 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:pg70959:20:61
# text = He then told some of the slaves to carry their master’s body to the town, but before this was done he warned all the slaves to be very careful not to keep any of their dead master’s property in their own houses, as they might be accused of stealing, so he advised them all to send their things to their different friends’ houses where they could be kept for them without anyone knowing.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’s	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
19	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	advcl	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	warned	warn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
25	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	27	det:predet	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	cop	_	_
30	very	very	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	ccomp	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	_
35	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	34	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
37	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
38	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	’s	's	PART	POS	_	39	case	_	_
41	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
44	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
47	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
48	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj:pass	_	_
49	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
50	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	aux:pass	_	_
51	accused	accuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	advcl	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	stealing	stealing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
55	so	so	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
56	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
57	advised	advise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
58	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	obj	_	_
59	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	58	nmod:unmarked	_	_
60	to	to	PART	TO	_	61	mark	_	_
61	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	xcomp	_	_
62	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	63	nmod:poss	_	_
63	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	61	obj	_	_
64	to	to	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
65	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	67	nmod:poss	_	_
66	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	67	amod	_	_
67	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	69	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	’	's	PART	POS	_	67	case	_	_
69	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	61	obl	_	_
70	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	74	advmod	_	_
71	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	74	nsubj:pass	_	_
72	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	74	aux	_	_
73	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	74	aux:pass	_	_
74	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	69	acl:relcl	_	_
75	for	for	ADP	IN	_	76	case	_	_
76	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	74	obl	_	_
77	without	without	ADP	IN	_	78	case	_	_
78	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	74	obl:agent	_	_
79	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	78	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
80	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Oga | some slaves |  |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent slave=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **carry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | some slaves *not said here* | slaves's master's body |  | the town |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent body=Theme to town=Destination |
| 3 | **do** | past · passive |  | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 4 | **warn** *speech: warn* | past | Oga | all slaves |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent slave=Recipient |
| 5 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | careful *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **keep** | to-infinitive |  | any of slaves's dead master's property |  | slaves's own houses |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent any=Theme in house=Location |
| 7 | **accuse** | might · passive |  | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  | of stealing | vn suspect-81 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Theme of stealing=Attribute |
| 8 | **advise** *speech: other* | past | Oga | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 9 | **send** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | slaves *= slave* *not said here* | slaves's things |  | slaves's different friends's houses |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent thing=Theme to house=Destination |
| 10 | **keep** | could · passive | anyone | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  | for friends *= friend* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 11 | **know** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .note -->
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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