---
title: He promised them that, if they succeeded in bringing the woman to hi… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: He promised them that, if they succeeded in bringing the woman to him, he would hold a big play and “dash” them plenty of tombo and food. Who acts: chief, MEN. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopp
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 105

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He promised them that, if they succeeded in bringing the woman to him, he would hold a big play and “dash” them plenty of tombo and food.

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**Who acts:** chief, MEN · **What happens:** promise, succeed, bring, hold · **To what, where:** that, MEN, woman, chief, big play

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, 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:pg70959:6:105
# text = He promised them that, if they succeeded in bringing the woman to him, he would hold a big play and “dash” them plenty of tombo and food.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	promised	promise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	succeeded	succeed	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	bringing	bring	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	dash	dash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
27	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	tombo	tombo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	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 | chief | that | MEN *= man* |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent they=Goal that=Theme |
| 2 | **succeed** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | MEN *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **bring** | gerund | MEN *= man* *not said here* | the woman | chief |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent woman=Theme to he=Destination |
| 4 | **hold** | would | chief | a big play and dash |  |  |  | MEN *= man* *obj*; plenty of tombo and food *obj* | tree rules |

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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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