---
title: When they had all gone, the Inkum men went very quietly into the tow… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they had all gone, the Inkum men went very quietly into the town from house to house, and stole all the children they could find and carried them off. Who acts: Inkum men, children. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 29

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When they had all gone, the Inkum men went very quietly into the town from house to house, and stole all the children they could find and carried them off.

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**Who acts:** Inkum men, children · **What happens:** go, steal, find, carry off · **To what, where:** town, children · **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 (Inkum men, children), 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:pg70959:7:29
# text = When they had all gone, the Inkum men went very quietly into the town from house to house, and stole all the children they could find and carried them off.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	all	all	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	gone	gone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	Inkum	Inkum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	very	very	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
13	into	into	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	from	from	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	stole	steal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	advcl	_	_
23	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	25	det:predet	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	ccomp	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	off	off	ADP	RP	_	30	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	28	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | the Inkum men |  |  | the town from house to house |  | quietly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into town=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **steal** | past | children *= child* *not said here* | all children |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location child=Theme |
| 3 | **find** | could | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **carry off** | past |  | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

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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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