---
title: So he stayed all that night with his father while his brothers were… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: So he stayed all that night with his father while his brothers were laughing and playing outside, and the Chief clearly saw that they did not care in the least that he was ill. Who acts: father, brothers, Chief. 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 76

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So he stayed all that night with his father while his brothers were laughing and playing outside, and the Chief clearly saw that they did not care in the least that he was ill.

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**Who acts:** father, brothers, Chief · **What happens:** stay, laugh, play, see, not care, be · **To what, where:** least · **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 (father, brothers, 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:pg70959:8:76
# text = So he stayed all that night with his father while his brothers were laughing and playing outside, and the Chief clearly saw that they did not care in the least that he was ill.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stayed	stay	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	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	advcl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	conj	_	_
17	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	care	care	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	ccomp	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	28	obl	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
35	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stay** | past | father |  |  |  | night | with father's father | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with father=Location |
| 2 | **laugh** | past · progressive | father's brothers |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **play** | gerund | father's brothers *not said here* |  |  |  |  | outside *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **see** | past | the Chief |  |  |  |  | clearly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **care** | past · do-support | brothers *= brother* |  |  | the least |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **is** | past | father |  |  |  |  | ill *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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