---
title: This the young men promised to do, and set off before it was light,… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: This the young men promised to do, and set off before it was light, telling no one where they were going. Who acts: young men, ’, men. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, with its depende
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 61

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This the young men promised to do, and set off before it was light, telling no one where they were going.

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**Who acts:** young men, ’, men · **What happens:** promise, do, set off, be, tell, go · **To what, where:** one · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1. 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, ’, men), 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:pg70959:24:61
# text = This the young men promised to do, and set off before it was light, telling no one where they were going.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nsubj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	promised	promise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
11	off	off	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	light	light	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
18	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	19	det	_	_
19	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	23	advmod	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past | the young men |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the young men *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **set off** | infinitive | the young men *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | ’ *= '* |  |  |  |  | light *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | ’ *= '* *not said here* | no one |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent one=Recipient |
| 6 | **go** | past · progressive | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «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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