---
title: By this time the acid has eaten into the skin, and the dark marks re… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: By this time the acid has eaten into the skin, and the dark marks remain, showing the pattern for several months. Who acts: acid, dark marks. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Fig. 2.--chief Indoma’s Compound., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Fig. 2.--chief Indoma’s Compound., sentence 12

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By this time the acid has eaten into the skin, and the dark marks remain, showing the pattern for several months.

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**Who acts:** acid, dark marks · **What happens:** eat, remain, show · **To what, where:** skin, pattern

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Fig. 2.--chief Indoma’s Compound.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (acid, dark marks), 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:pg70959:29:12
# text = By this time the acid has eaten into the skin, and the dark marks remain, showing the pattern for several months.
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	acid	acid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	marks	mark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	remain	remain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	showing	show	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	xcomp	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	pattern	pattern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | present · perfect | the acid |  |  | the skin | time |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **remain** | present | the dark marks |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **show** | gerund | the dark marks *not said here* | the pattern |  |  | month |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent pattern=Recipient |

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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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