---
title: If a man was poor, very few people would attend the funeral, but if… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: If a man was poor, very few people would attend the funeral, but if he were rich many people would come. Who acts: man, few people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, with its dependency tree a
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 9

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If a man was poor, very few people would attend the funeral, but if he were rich many people would come.

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**Who acts:** man, few people · **What happens:** be, attend, come · **To what, where:** funeral

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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 (man, few people), 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:pg70959:21:9
# text = If a man was poor, very few people would attend the funeral, but if he were rich many people would come.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	attend	attend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	funeral	funeral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
19	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
20	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a man |  |  |  |  | poor *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **attend** | would | few people | the funeral |  |  |  |  | vn attend-107.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme funeral=Goal |
| 3 | **come** *a condition, not said to happen* | would · past | man |  |  |  |  | rich many people *nsubj* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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