---
title: Her father was very fond of her, but often said that he wished she h… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Her father was very fond of her, but often said that he wished she had been a boy as she would then have been able to help him with his work on the farm. Who acts: father, man, Omegha. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between I
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 92

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Her father was very fond of her, but often said that he wished she had been a boy as she would then have been able to help him with his work on the farm.

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**Who acts:** father, man, Omegha · **What happens:** be, say, wish, help, work · **To what, where:** boy, man, farm · **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 (father, man, Omegha), 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:pg70959:7:92
# text = Her father was very fond of her, but often said that he wished she had been a boy as she would then have been able to help him with his work on the farm.
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	often	often	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
17	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	cop	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	ccomp	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
23	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	advmod	_	_
24	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux	_	_
25	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	cop	_	_
26	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	advcl	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
33	on	on	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Omegha's father |  |  |  |  | of Omegha; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Omegha's father *not said here* |  |  |  |  | often *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **wish** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 4 | **is a** | past · perfect | Omegha | a boy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | would · perfect | Omegha |  |  |  | then | able *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **help** | to-infinitive | Omegha *not said here* |  | man |  |  | with man's work on the farm | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary with work=Theme |
| 7 | **work** |  | man |  |  | the farm |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent on=place |

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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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