---
title: When they had all departed the chief pulled down all the houses wher… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: When they had all departed the chief pulled down all the houses where they had been living, and then built a new house on a different piece of ground. Who acts: companions. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibal
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 16

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When they had all departed the chief pulled down all the houses where they had been living, and then built a new house on a different piece of ground.

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**Who acts:** companions · **What happens:** depart, pull down, live, build · **To what, where:** companions, chief, new house, different piece

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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 (companions), 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:pg70959:9:16
# text = When they had all departed the chief pulled down all the houses where they had been living, and then built a new house on a different piece of ground.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	all	all	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	departed	depart	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	pulled	pull	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	12	det:predet	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:agent	_	_
13	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	17	advmod	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	aux	_	_
17	living	live	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
21	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **depart** | past · perfect · passive |  | companions *= companion* |  |  |  | the chief *obj*; all *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pull down** | participle |  | the chief *not said here* |  |  |  | all houses *obl:agent* | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **live** | past · perfect · progressive | companions *= companion* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **build** | past |  | a new house |  | a different piece of ground | then |  | vn base-97.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent house=Theme on piece=Source |

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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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