--- title: As they grew up, whenever he went to his farm, Chief ’Ndabu used to… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: As they grew up, whenever he went to his farm, Chief ’Ndabu used to take all his children with him, and there were many people in the town who were very jealous of him on account of his large family. Who acts: wives, chief, Ndabu, many people. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/32/) [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/) / [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/) / 32 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 32 As they grew up, whenever he went to his farm, Chief ’Ndabu used to take all his children with him, and there were many people in the town who were very jealous of him on account of his large family. **Who acts:** wives, chief, Ndabu, many people, town · **What happens:** grow up, go, use, take, be, account · **To what, where:** farm, children, account, large family 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 (wives, chief, Ndabu, many people), 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:pg70959:9:32 # text = As they grew up, whenever he went to his farm, Chief ’Ndabu used to take all his children with him, and there were many people in the town who were very jealous of him on account of his large family. 1 As as SCONJ IN _ 3 mark _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 grew grow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 up up ADP RP _ 3 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 6 whenever whenever ADV WRB PronType=Rel 8 advmod _ _ 7 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 8 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 9 to to ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 farm farm NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 13 Chief Chief PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 nmod:poss _ _ 14 ’ 's PART POS _ 13 case _ SpaceAfter=No 15 Ndabu Ndabu PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ _ 16 used use VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 xcomp _ _ 19 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 21 det:predet _ _ 20 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 21 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 obj _ _ 22 with with ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 26 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 27 expl _ _ 27 were be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 28 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj _ _ 30 in in ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 town town NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nmod _ _ 33 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 36 nsubj _ _ 34 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 cop _ _ 35 very very ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 36 jealous jealous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 acl:relcl _ _ 37 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obl _ _ 39 on on ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 account account NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 42 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 43 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 family family NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **grow up** | past | wives *= wife* | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **go** | past | chief | | | chief's farm | | whenever *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to farm=Initial\_Location | | 3 | **use** | past | Chief's Ndabu | | | | | | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 4 | **take** | to-infinitive | Chief's Ndabu *not said here* | | chief's children | | | with chief | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument child=Destination | | 5 | **be** | past | many people in the town | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **is** | past | the town | | | account of chief's large family | | of chief; jealous *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **account** | | | chief's large family | | | | | nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient | 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 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/31/) - next →: [sentence 33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/33/) - ↑ back to [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/)