--- title: He did so, and told Chief Erim that his wife had only brought nine c… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: He did so, and told Chief Erim that his wife had only brought nine cakes of camwood instead of twelve, as she had been very busy in the house and had had a lot of other work to do. Who acts: Chief, Erim, lot. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how T --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/9/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Change…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/) / 9 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 9 He did so, and told Chief Erim that his wife had only brought nine cakes of camwood instead of twelve, as she had been very busy in the house and had had a lot of other work to do. **Who acts:** Chief, Erim, lot · **What happens:** do, tell, bring, be, have · **To what, where:** Chief, wife, house, lot · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Chief, Erim, lot), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:20:9 # text = He did so, and told Chief Erim that his wife had only brought nine cakes of camwood instead of twelve, as she had been very busy in the house and had had a lot of other work to do. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 so so ADV RB _ 2 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 5 and and CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 6 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 7 Chief Chief PROPN NNP Number=Sing 6 iobj _ _ 8 Erim Erim PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 flat _ _ 9 that that SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj:pass _ _ 12 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 13 only only ADV RB _ 14 advmod _ _ 14 brought bring VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 ccomp _ _ 15 nine nine NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 16 nummod _ _ 16 cakes cake NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 obj _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 camwood camwood NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ _ 19 instead instead ADV RB ExtPos=ADP 21 case _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 19 fixed _ _ 21 twelve twelve NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 23 as as SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ _ 24 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 25 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 aux _ _ 26 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 28 cop _ _ 27 very very ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 28 busy busy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 conj _ _ 29 in in ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 33 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 had have VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 2 conj _ _ 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 lot lot NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 37 of of ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 work work NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nmod _ _ 40 to to PART TO _ 41 mark _ _ 41 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **do** | past | Chief | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | | | Chief | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **bring** | past · perfect · passive | | Chief's wife | | | | instead twelve; nine cakes of camwood *obj* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Destination cake=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past · perfect | Erim | | | the house | | busy *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **have** | past · perfect | Chief *not said here* | a lot of other work | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **do** | to-infinitive | a lot of other work *not said here* | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/8/) - next →: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/10/) - ↑ back to [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/)