---
title: The slave woman was then seized, and tied up to a tree, and, when th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The slave woman was then seized, and tied up to a tree, and, when the morning came, the chief charged her with trying to kill her mistress. Who acts: morning, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Gra
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 110

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The slave woman was then seized, and tied up to a tree, and, when the morning came, the chief charged her with trying to kill her mistress.

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**Who acts:** morning, chief · **What happens:** seize, tie up, come, charge, try, kill · **To what, where:** slave woman, woman, mistress

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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 (morning, chief), 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:pg70959:6:110
# text = The slave woman was then seized, and tied up to a tree, and, when the morning came, the chief charged her with trying to kill her mistress.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
6	seized	seize	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
10	up	up	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	20	mark	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	charged	charge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
25	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	iobj	_	_
26	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
27	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	mistress	mistress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seize** | past · passive |  | the slave woman |  |  | then |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **tie up** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | to a tree | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle PP»: agent=Patient to tree=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **come** | past | the morning |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **charge** | past | the chief |  | woman |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location she=Theme |
| 5 | **try** | gerund | the chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **kill** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* | woman's mistress |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mistress=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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