---
title: As a child did not come quickly to Agbor the chief used to beat her… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: As a child did not come quickly to Agbor the chief used to beat her and use her very badly as he thought she might never have a child and then he would have paid all the dowry and marriage expenses for nothing. Who acts: child, Agbor, chief. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 3

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As a child did not come quickly to Agbor the chief used to beat her and use her very badly as he thought she might never have a child and then he would have paid all the dowry and marriage expenses for nothing.

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**Who acts:** child, Agbor, chief · **What happens:** not come, use, beat, think, not have, pay · **To what, where:** Agbor, chief, child · **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 (child, Agbor, chief), 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:pg70959:8:3
# text = As a child did not come quickly to Agbor the chief used to beat her and use her very badly as he thought she might never have a child and then he would have paid all the dowry and marriage expenses for nothing.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Agbor	Agbor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
12	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	beat	beat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
18	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	very	very	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	ccomp	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
31	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	35	advmod	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	aux	_	_
35	paid	pay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	_
36	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	38	det:predet	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	dowry	dowry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	_
41	expenses	expense	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	conj	_	_
42	for	for	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **come** | past · do-support | a child |  |  | Agbor |  | the chief *nsubj*; quickly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to agbor=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **use** | participle |  | the chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **beat** | to-infinitive |  | chief |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location she=Theme |
| 4 | **use** | infinitive |  | chief |  |  |  | badly *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Agbor |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **have** | might | chief | a child |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient |
| 7 | **pay** | would · perfect · passive |  | Agbor |  |  | then | for nothing; all dowry and marriage expenses *obj* | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP NP PP.theme»: subject=Recipient dowry=Asset for nothing=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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