---
title: Then the woman began to abuse her husband, saying, “You have been th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the woman began to abuse her husband, saying, “You have been the cause of all this running and trouble,” but Agbor told her that when he eat the fish and broke the hunting law he never thought he would be found out. Who acts: woman, You, Agbor. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nig
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 77

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Then the woman began to abuse her husband, saying, “You have been the cause of all this running and trouble,” but Agbor told her that when he eat the fish and broke the hunting law he never thought he would be found out.

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**Who acts:** woman, You, Agbor · **What happens:** begin, abuse, say, be, tell, eat · **To what, where:** husband, cause, wife, fish, hunting law, AGBOR · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, You, Agbor), 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:pg70959:25:77
# text = Then the woman began to abuse her husband, saying, “You have been the cause of all this running and trouble,” but Agbor told her that when he eat the fish and broke the hunting law he never thought he would be found out.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	abuse	abuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	cop	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	ccomp	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
20	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
21	running	running	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
29	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	iobj	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
31	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	33	mark	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	ccomp	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	_
40	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
43	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	acl:relcl	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
45	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
46	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	aux:pass	_	_
47	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	43	ccomp	_	_
48	out	out	ADP	RP	_	47	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the woman |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **abuse** | to-infinitive | the woman *not said here* | wife's husband |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent husband=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present · perfect | You | the cause |  |  |  | of all running and trouble | tree rules |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Agbor |  | wife |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **eat** | present | AGBOR | the fish |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Patient |
| 7 | **break** | past | AGBOR *not said here* | the hunting law |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer law=Patient |
| 8 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | past | AGBOR | the hunting law *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent law=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 9 | **find out** | would · passive |  | AGBOR |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

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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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