--- title: At last some of the young men, who were very anxious to possess the… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: At last some of the young men, who were very anxious to possess the pretty daughter of the bush buck as a wife, asked the father to reduce the amount of dowry to such an amount as they would be able to pay. Who acts: young men, some, animals. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» b --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/21/16/) [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/pg70959/21/) / 16 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 16 At last some of the young men, who were very anxious to possess the pretty daughter of the bush buck as a wife, asked the father to reduce the amount of dowry to such an amount as they would be able to pay. **Who acts:** young men, some, animals · **What happens:** be, possess, ask, reduce, pay, amount · **To what, where:** pretty daughter, father, amount, dowry 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 (young men, some, animals), 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:pg70959:21:16 # text = At last some of the young men, who were very anxious to possess the pretty daughter of the bush buck as a wife, asked the father to reduce the amount of dowry to such an amount as they would be able to pay. 1 At at ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 26 nsubj _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 12 nsubj _ _ 10 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 cop _ _ 11 very very ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 12 anxious anxious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 parataxis _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 possess possess VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 csubj _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 16 pretty pretty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 17 daughter daughter NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ _ 18 of of ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 20 bush bush NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 compound _ _ 21 buck buck NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nmod _ _ 22 as as ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 26 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 30 reduce reduce VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 xcomp _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 amount amount NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ _ 33 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 dowry dowry NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nmod _ _ 35 to to ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 36 such such DET PDT PronType=Ind 38 det:predet _ _ 37 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 amount amount NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 39 as as SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 40 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 41 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 42 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 43 cop _ _ 43 able able ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 advcl _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 pay pay VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 43 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 26 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the young men | | | | | anxious *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **possess** | to-infinitive | | the pretty daughter of the bush buck as a wife | | | | | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot daughter=Theme | | 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | some of the young men | | the father | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent father=Recipient clause=Topic | | 4 | **reduce** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | some of the young men *not said here* | the amount of dowry | | | | to such amount *goal* | vn limit-76 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer amount=Patient to amount=Goal | | 5 | **is** | would | animals *= animal* | | | | | able *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **pay** | to-infinitive | animals *= animal* *not said here* | | | | | | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **amount** | | | dowry | | | | | nom amount «possession transitive»: of=patient | 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 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/21/15/) - next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/21/17/) - ↑ back to [Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/21/)