---
title: When they saw Mossim, they were not greatly impressed by her looks,… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they saw Mossim, they were not greatly impressed by her looks, and said so quite freely in very plain terms. Who acts: people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., with its dependency tre
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 88

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When they saw Mossim, they were not greatly impressed by her looks, and said so quite freely in very plain terms.

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**Who acts:** people · **What happens:** see, not impress, say · **To what, where:** Mossim · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (people), 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:pg70959:6:88
# text = When they saw Mossim, they were not greatly impressed by her looks, and said so quite freely in very plain terms.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
4	Mossim	Mossim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
9	greatly	greatly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	impressed	impress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	looks	look	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	freely	freely	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	very	very	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	plain	plain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	terms	term	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | people | Mossim |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer mossim=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **impress** | past · passive | people |  |  |  |  | by Mossim's looks; greatly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  | freely *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

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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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