---
title: She was much admired by all the men and animals, and many of them wa… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: She was much admired by all the men and animals, and many of them wanted to marry her, and spoke to her father on the subject, but he placed such a high dowry on his daughter that no one was rich enough to pay it. Who acts: men, many, man, high dowry. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern N
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 15

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She was much admired by all the men and animals, and many of them wanted to marry her, and spoke to her father on the subject, but he placed such a high dowry on his daughter that no one was rich enough to pay it.

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**Who acts:** men, many, man, high dowry · **What happens:** admire, want, marry, speak, place, be · **To what, where:** BUCK, subject, high dowry, dowry · **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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, many, man, high dowry), 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:pg70959:21:15
# text = She was much admired by all the men and animals, and many of them wanted to marry her, and spoke to her father on the subject, but he placed such a high dowry on his daughter that no one was rich enough to pay it.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	much	much	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	admired	admire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	8	det:predet	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nmod	_	_
16	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
33	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	36	det:predet	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	dowry	dowry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
37	on	on	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
40	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	44	nsubj	_	_
41	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	42	det	_	_
42	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
44	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	acl:relcl	_	_
45	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	advcl	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **admire** | past · passive | all men and animals | BUCK |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **want** | past | many of animals |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **marry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | many of animals *not said here* | BUCK |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | many of animals *not said here* |  |  | the subject |  | to BUCK's father | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to father=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **place** | past | man | such high dowry |  |  |  | on man's daughter | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent dowry=Theme on daughter=Destination |
| 6 | **is** | past | such high dowry |  |  |  |  | no one *nsubj*; enough, rich *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **pay** | to-infinitive | such high dowry *not said here* | dowry |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Asset |

<!-- .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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