---
title: All the heads were then collected and placed over a fire to singe th… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: All the heads were then collected and placed over a fire to singe the hair off. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 65

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All the heads were then collected and placed over a fire to singe the hair off.

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**What happens:** collect, place, singe off · **To what, where:** heads, fire, hair

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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: 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:pg70959:7:65
# text = All the heads were then collected and placed over a fire to singe the hair off.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
6	collected	collect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
9	over	over	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	singe	singe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	off	off	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **collect** | past · passive |  | all heads |  | a fire | then |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **place** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **singe off** | to-infinitive |  | the hair |  |  |  |  | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent hair=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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