---
title: When Agberamfe saw his mother he told her that his father had given… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When Agberamfe saw his mother he told her that his father had given each of his brothers a matchet but that he had received only a piece of iron to work with although he was the youngest of them all. Who acts: Agberamfe, father. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 16

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When Agberamfe saw his mother he told her that his father had given each of his brothers a matchet but that he had received only a piece of iron to work with although he was the youngest of them all.

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**Who acts:** Agberamfe, father · **What happens:** see, tell, give, receive, work, be · **To what, where:** mother, chief, matchet, piece · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Agberamfe, father), 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:pg70959:8:16
# text = When Agberamfe saw his mother he told her that his father had given each of his brothers a matchet but that he had received only a piece of iron to work with although he was the youngest of them all.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	Agberamfe	Agberamfe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	iobj	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	ccomp	_	_
14	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	matchet	matchet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	received	receive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
25	only	only	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
33	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nmod	_	_
40	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	39	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | Agberamfe | Agberamfe's mother |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer mother=Stimulus |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Agberamfe |  | chief |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **give** | past · perfect | Agberamfe's father | each matchet |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent matchet=Theme |
| 4 | **receive** | past · perfect | father | a piece of iron |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piece=Theme |
| 5 | **work** | to-infinitive | father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past | father |  |  |  |  | of mother; young *property* | tree rules |

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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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