---
title: One day, while his grandmother was cooking, he heard the company of… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: One day, while his grandmother was cooking, he heard the company of small boys to which he belonged playing outside, so he stole out of the house and joined them. Who acts: grandmother, Ogor. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Be
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 108

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One day, while his grandmother was cooking, he heard the company of small boys to which he belonged playing outside, so he stole out of the house and joined them.

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**Who acts:** grandmother, Ogor · **What happens:** cook, hear, belong, play, steal, join · **To what, where:** company, house, boys

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grandmother, Ogor), 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:pg70959:7:108
# text = One day, while his grandmother was cooking, he heard the company of small boys to which he belonged playing outside, so he stole out of the house and joined them.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
4	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	cooking	cook	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	obl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	belonged	belong	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	playing	play	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	xcomp	_	_
22	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	stole	steal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
27	out	out	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	joined	join	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
33	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cook** | past · progressive | Ogor's grandmother |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hear** | past | Ogor | the company of small boys |  |  | day |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer company=Stimulus |
| 3 | **belong** | past | Ogor |  |  |  |  | to small boys | tree rules |
| 4 | **play** | gerund | Ogor *not said here* |  |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **steal** | past | Ogor |  |  | the house |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme out house=Location |
| 6 | **join** | past | Ogor *not said here* | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

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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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