---
title: Finding that there were five of their members missing, they could no… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Finding that there were five of their members missing, they could not understand what had happened, so they decided not to attend the play that night. Who acts: boys, five. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enf
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 23

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Finding that there were five of their members missing, they could not understand what had happened, so they decided not to attend the play that night.

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**Who acts:** boys, five · **What happens:** find, be, not understand, happen, decide, not attend · **To what, where:** play · **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 (boys, five), 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:pg70959:7:23
# text = Finding that there were five of their members missing, they could not understand what had happened, so they decided not to attend the play that night.
1	Finding	find	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
4	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
5	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	members	member	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
9	missing	missing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	decided	decide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	attend	attend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
28	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | gerund | boys *= boy* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **be** | past | five of boys's members |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **understand** | could | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **happen** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | what *nsubj* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **decide** | past | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **not** **attend** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | boys *= boy* *not said here* | the play |  |  | night |  | vn attend-107.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme play=Goal |

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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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