---
title: His body was dressed up in his best clothes and it was made to sit u… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: His body was dressed up in his best clothes and it was made to sit up in a chair, some of his wives fanning it to keep the flies off. Who acts: body, wives. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., with its d
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 109

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His body was dressed up in his best clothes and it was made to sit up in a chair, some of his wives fanning it to keep the flies off.

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**Who acts:** body, wives · **What happens:** dress up, make, sit up, fan, keep off · **To what, where:** body, best clothes, chair, flies

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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 (body, wives), 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:pg70959:9:109
# text = His body was dressed up in his best clothes and it was made to sit up in a chair, some of his wives fanning it to keep the flies off.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	dressed	dress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	amod	_	_
9	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	4	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	chair	chair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	19	nmod	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	_
25	fanning	fan	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	acl	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	flies	fly	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	off	off	ADP	RP	_	28	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dress up** | past · passive |  | chief's body |  | chief's best clothes |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | past · passive |  | body |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **sit up** | to-infinitive | body *not said here* |  |  | a chair  some of chief's wives |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in chair=Location |
| 4 | **fan** | gerund | chief's wives *not said here* | body |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **keep off** | to-infinitive | chief's wives *not said here* | the flies |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fly=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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