---
title: Although he never spoke about what he had seen, he could not help wo… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Although he never spoke about what he had seen, he could not help wondering how it was that he could go in and out of the house when all the doors were fastened. Who acts: Amoru, meat. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches 
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 50

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Although he never spoke about what he had seen, he could not help wondering how it was that he could go in and out of the house when all the doors were fastened.

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**Who acts:** Amoru, meat · **What happens:** not speak, see, not help, wonder, be, fasten · **To what, where:** doors · **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 (Amoru, meat), 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:pg70959:9:50
# text = Although he never spoke about what he had seen, he could not help wondering how it was that he could go in and out of the house when all the doors were fastened.
1	Although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	obl	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	wondering	wonder	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	xcomp	_	_
16	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
23	in	in	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	_
29	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	34	mark	_	_
30	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	32	det:predet	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	doors	door	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	fastened	fasten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | past | Amoru |  |  |  |  | what *obl* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about what=Topic |
| 2 | **see** | past · perfect | Amoru |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **not** **help** | could | Amoru |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **wonder** *speech: ask* *not said to happen* | gerund | Amoru *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **is** | could · past | meat |  |  |  |  | Amoru *nsubj*; go *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **fasten** | past · passive |  | all doors |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

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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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