---
title: At last he asked the head slave what had become of all the rods whic… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: At last he asked the head slave what had become of all the rods which his father formerly possessed, and whether his brother had spent them all. Who acts: Odoggha, head slave, rods, brother. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young M
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 75

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At last he asked the head slave what had become of all the rods which his father formerly possessed, and whether his brother had spent them all.

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**Who acts:** Odoggha, head slave, rods, brother · **What happens:** ask, become, father, possess, spend · **To what, where:** head slave, last, rods, father, slaves

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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 (Odoggha, head slave, rods, brother), 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:pg70959:20:75
# text = At last he asked the head slave what had become of all the rods which his father formerly possessed, and whether his brother had spent them all.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	14	det:predet	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	rods	rod	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	xcomp	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	formerly	formerly	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	possessed	possess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
22	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	spent	spend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	parataxis	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Odoggha | the head slave |  | last |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent slave=Recipient |
| 2 | **become** | past · perfect | the head slave | all rods |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **father** |  | all rods |  |  |  |  | Odoggha *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 4 | **possess** | participle |  | Odoggha's father *not said here* |  |  |  | formerly *property* | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **spend** | past · perfect | Odoggha's brother | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Asset |

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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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