---
title: Now, one of the young men of the town, who had been down the river t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, one of the young men of the town, who had been down the river trading, knew Ewa Abagi very well indeed, and, when he saw the slave woman, he recognized her as the servant, so he told Chief Awor. Who acts: town, one, many. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Da
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 89

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Now, one of the young men of the town, who had been down the river trading, knew Ewa Abagi very well indeed, and, when he saw the slave woman, he recognized her as the servant, so he told Chief Awor.

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**Who acts:** town, one, many · **What happens:** be, know, see, recognize, tell · **To what, where:** Ewa, slave woman, woman, Chief · **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 (town, one, many), 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:pg70959:6:89
# text = Now, one of the young men of the town, who had been down the river trading, knew Ewa Abagi very well indeed, and, when he saw the slave woman, he recognized her as the servant, so he told Chief Awor.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
14	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	cop	_	_
15	down	down	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	trading	trading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
20	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
21	Ewa	Ewa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
22	Abagi	Abagi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	flat	_	_
23	very	very	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	25	advmod	_	_
25	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	31	advmod	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	recognized	recognize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
38	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	as	as	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	so	so	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
46	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	45	iobj	_	_
47	Awor	Awor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	46	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect | the town |  |  |  |  | down the river trading | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | past | one of the young men of the town | Ewa |  |  | now | indeed *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer ewa=Stimulus |
| 3 | **see** | past | many | the slave woman |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer woman=Stimulus |
| 4 | **recognize** | past | many | woman |  |  |  | as the servant | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus as servant=Attribute |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | many |  | Chief |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient |

<!-- .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.

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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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