---
title: While the food was cooking, a big dance was being held, and one of t… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: While the food was cooking, a big dance was being held, and one of the prisoners was placed on his back upon the ground in front of the ju-ju. Who acts: food. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., with it
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 56

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While the food was cooking, a big dance was being held, and one of the prisoners was placed on his back upon the ground in front of the ju-ju.

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**Who acts:** food · **What happens:** cook, hold, place · **To what, where:** big dance, one, back

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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 (food), 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:pg70959:7:56
# text = While the food was cooking, a big dance was being held, and one of the prisoners was placed on his back upon the ground in front of the ju-ju.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	cooking	cook	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	dance	dance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
11	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
15	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	prisoners	prisoner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
31	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	ju	ju	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cook** | past · progressive | the food |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **hold** | past · passive |  | a big dance |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **place** | past · passive |  | one of the prisoners |  | man's back upon the ground |  | in front of the ju ju | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme on back=Destination |

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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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