---
title: When the Enfitop boys arrived, they all sat together a little distan… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When the Enfitop boys arrived, they all sat together a little distance off, and one of their head boys was told to sit on the rock with his back to the pit, which he could not see, as it was dark. Who acts: Enfitop boys, boys, one, Chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by El
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 14

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When the Enfitop boys arrived, they all sat together a little distance off, and one of their head boys was told to sit on the rock with his back to the pit, which he could not see, as it was dark.

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**Who acts:** Enfitop boys, boys, one, Chief, rock · **What happens:** arrive, sit off, tell, sit, not see, be · **To what, where:** little distance, one, rock, pit · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Enfitop boys, boys, one, 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:pg70959:7:14
# text = When the Enfitop boys arrived, they all sat together a little distance off, and one of their head boys was told to sit on the rock with his back to the pit, which he could not see, as it was dark.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	Enfitop	Enfitop	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
9	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	together	together	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
14	off	off	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
17	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
36	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	obj	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
38	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	40	advmod	_	_
40	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
43	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
45	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | the Enfitop boys |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **sit off** | past | boys *= boy* | a little distance |  |  |  | together *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location distance=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | one of boys's head boys |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **sit** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | one of boys's head boys *not said here* |  |  | the rock |  | with Chief's back; to the pit | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on rock=Location |
| 5 | **not** **see** | could | Chief | the pit |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |
| 6 | **is** | past | rock |  |  |  |  | dark *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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