---
title: Chief Osewo sent all his slaves to the other side of the river to cu… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Chief Osewo sent all his slaves to the other side of the river to cut the leaves of the tombo palm to make roof mats with; they were also to take some rats with them and catch a crocodile. Who acts: Chief, mats. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 35

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Chief Osewo sent all his slaves to the other side of the river to cut the leaves of the tombo palm to make roof mats with; they were also to take some rats with them and catch a crocodile.

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**Who acts:** Chief, mats · **What happens:** send, cut, make, take, catch · **To what, where:** slaves, other side, leaves, roof mats, rats, crocodile

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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 (Chief, mats), 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:pg70959:8:35
# text = Chief Osewo sent all his slaves to the other side of the river to cut the leaves of the tombo palm to make roof mats with; they were also to take some rats with them and catch a crocodile.
1	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	Osewo	Osewo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	tombo	tombo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
24	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	mats	mat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
29	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
30	also	also	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
33	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	34	det	_	_
34	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nmod	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	conj	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	crocodile	crocodile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | Chief | plan's slaves |  | the other side of the river |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent slave=Theme to side=Destination |
| 2 | **cut** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | the leaves of the tombo palm |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset leaf=Product |
| 3 | **make** | to-infinitive | Chief *not said here* | roof mats |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset mat=Product |
| 4 | **take** | past | mats *= mat* | some rats |  |  |  | with rats *= rat* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rat=Theme |
| 5 | **catch** | infinitive | mats *= mat* *not said here* | a crocodile |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crocodile=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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