---
title: By this time the grave was about half full, and the people left it u… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: By this time the grave was about half full, and the people left it until the next day, when more slaves were being brought in from the farms to be killed and put in the grave to fill it up. Who acts: grave, people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/5/41/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/5/) / 41

# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 41

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By this time the grave was about half full, and the people left it until the next day, when more slaves were being brought in from the farms to be killed and put in the grave to fill it up.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** grave, people · **What happens:** be, leave, bring in, kill, put, fill up · **To what, where:** grave, more slaves, farms

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grave, people), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:5:41
# text = By this time the grave was about half full, and the people left it until the next day, when more slaves were being brought in from the farms to be killed and put in the grave to fill it up.
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	9	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	about	about	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	half	half	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	9	advmod	_	_
9	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	until	until	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	26	advmod	_	_
22	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	23	amod	_	_
23	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
25	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	_
27	in	in	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	farms	farm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	advcl	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	conj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	fill	fill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	advcl	_	_
41	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	up	up	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the grave |  |  |  | time | full, half *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **leave** | past | the people | grave |  |  | day |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **bring in** | past · passive |  | more slaves |  | the farms |  |  | vn earn-54.6 «NP V NP»: subject=Asset |
| 4 | **kill** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle» |
| 5 | **put** | participle |  |  |  | the grave |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in grave=Destination |
| 6 | **fill up** | to-infinitive |  | grave |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/5/40/)
- next →: [sentence 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/5/42/)
- ↑ back to [Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/5/)