---
title: The people then collected all the ashes of the witches who had been… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: The people then collected all the ashes of the witches who had been burnt and threw them into the river, saying they had got rid of all the witches in their town. Who acts: people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 106

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The people then collected all the ashes of the witches who had been burnt and threw them into the river, saying they had got rid of all the witches in their town.

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**Who acts:** people · **What happens:** collect, burnt, throw, say, get · **To what, where:** ashes, witches, people, river · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people), 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:pg70959:9:106
# text = The people then collected all the ashes of the witches who had been burnt and threw them into the river, saying they had got rid of all the witches in their town.
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	collected	collect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	7	det:predet	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ashes	ash	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	burnt	burnt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl:relcl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	into	into	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	ccomp	_	_
26	rid	rid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	xcomp	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	30	det:predet	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **collect** | past | the people | all ashes of the witches |  |  | then |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ash=Theme |
| 2 | **burnt** | past · perfect · passive |  | the witches |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **throw** | past |  | people |  |  |  | into the river *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer they=Theme into river=Result |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **get** | past · perfect | people |  |  |  |  | rid *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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