---
title: He told his company what had happened, and advised them to go home a… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He told his company what had happened, and advised them to go home at once, as he was unable to provide any more food and drink for them. Who acts: Eyu, keys. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4,
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 3

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He told his company what had happened, and advised them to go home at once, as he was unable to provide any more food and drink for them.

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**Who acts:** Eyu, keys · **What happens:** tell, happen, advise, go, be, provide · **To what, where:** company, keys, more food · **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 (Eyu, keys), 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:pg70959:21:3
# text = He told his company what had happened, and advised them to go home at once, as he was unable to provide any more food and drink for them.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	iobj	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	advised	advise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
14	home	home	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	provide	provide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	any	any	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	26	amod	_	_
26	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	drink	drink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Eyu |  | Eyu's company |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent company=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **happen** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | what *nsubj* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **advise** *speech: other* | past |  | keys *= key* |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | keys *= key* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at once=Location |
| 5 | **is** | past | Eyu |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **provide** | to-infinitive | Eyu *not said here* | more food and drink for keys |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition food=Theme |

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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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