---
title: But in the evening, when the work was done, he gave them tombo to dr… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: But in the evening, when the work was done, he gave them tombo to drink, and then told them to go. Who acts: work. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 8

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But in the evening, when the work was done, he gave them tombo to drink, and then told them to go.

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**Who acts:** work · **What happens:** do, give, drink, tell, go · **To what, where:** work, tombo, people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (work), 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:pg70959:22:8
# text = But in the evening, when the work was done, he gave them tombo to drink, and then told them to go.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	_
15	tombo	tombo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
21	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	iobj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past · passive |  | the work |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **give** | past | work | tombo | people |  | evening |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient tombo=Theme |
| 3 | **drink** | to-infinitive | work *not said here* | tombo *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | work *not said here* |  | people |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | work *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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