--- title: The people then advised the Chief to divide his property into two sh… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: The people then advised the Chief to divide his property into two shares, so that when he died, one share should belong to Agbor’s son, who would be able to look after his sister; and the other share would be divided amongst the other eight boys. Who acts: people, Chief, father, one share. A sentenc --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/79/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / [Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/) / 79 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 79 The people then advised the Chief to divide his property into two shares, so that when he died, one share should belong to Agbor’s son, who would be able to look after his sister; and the other share would be divided amongst the other eight boys. **Who acts:** people, Chief, father, one share, son · **What happens:** advise, divide, die, belong, be, look · **To what, where:** Chief, property, two shares, other share 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 (people, Chief, father, one share), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg70959:8:79 # text = The people then advised the Chief to divide his property into two shares, so that when he died, one share should belong to Agbor’s son, who would be able to look after his sister; and the other share would be divided amongst the other eight boys. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 3 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ _ 4 advised advise VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 Chief Chief PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 divide divide VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 9 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 10 property property NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ _ 11 into into ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 13 nummod _ _ 13 shares share NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 15 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 19 mark _ _ 16 that that SCONJ IN _ 15 fixed _ _ 17 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 19 advmod _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 died die VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 21 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 22 nummod _ _ 22 share share NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nsubj _ _ 23 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 belong belong VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 conj _ _ 25 to to ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 26 Agbor Agbor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 28 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ’s 's PART POS _ 26 case _ _ 28 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 30 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 33 nsubj _ _ 31 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 32 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 33 cop _ _ 33 able able ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 advcl _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 look look VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 xcomp _ _ 36 after after ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 38 sister sister NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 ; ; PUNCT : _ 46 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 42 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 share share NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nsubj:pass _ _ 44 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 46 aux _ _ 45 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 46 aux:pass _ _ 46 divided divide VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 parataxis _ _ 47 amongst amongst ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 49 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 51 amod _ _ 50 eight eight NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 51 nummod _ _ 51 boys boy NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **advise** *speech: other* | past | the people | the Chief | | | then | | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S\_INF»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **divide** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Chief *not said here* | father's property | | two shares | | | vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent property=Theme | | 3 | **die** | past | father | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 4 | **belong** | should | one share | | | | | to Agbor's son | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **is** | would | Agbor's son | | | | | able *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **look** | to-infinitive | Agbor's son *not said here* | | | | after father's sister | | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 7 | **divide** | would · passive | | the other share | | | | amongst the other eight boys | vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/78/) - next →: [sentence 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/80/) - ↑ back to [Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/8/)