--- title: The people of the town were much surprised that the night had been s… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics description: The people of the town were much surprised that the night had been so short, but when they heard that the night calabash had been broken and the witches captured, they were very glad, and went to have a look at them. Who acts: people, night, witches. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Ni --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/86/) [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/) / 86 # Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 86 The people of the town were much surprised that the night had been so short, but when they heard that the night calabash had been broken and the witches captured, they were very glad, and went to have a look at them. **Who acts:** people, night, witches · **What happens:** be, hear, break, capture, go, have · **To what, where:** night calabash, look · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, night, witches), 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:pg70959:9:86 # text = The people of the town were much surprised that the night had been so short, but when they heard that the night calabash had been broken and the witches captured, they were very glad, and went to have a look at them. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 nsubj _ _ 3 of of ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 town town NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nmod _ _ 6 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 7 much much ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 8 surprised surprised ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 9 that that SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ _ 12 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 13 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 15 cop _ _ 14 so so ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 15 short short ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 17 but but CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 18 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 20 advmod _ _ 19 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ _ 21 that that SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 compound _ _ 24 calabash calabash NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj:pass _ _ 25 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 26 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 27 aux:pass _ _ 27 broken break VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 20 ccomp _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 witches witch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 nsubj _ _ 31 captured capture VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 36 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 33 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 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 glad glad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 39 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 40 to to PART TO _ 41 mark _ _ 41 have have VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 xcomp _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 look look NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ _ 44 at at ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 45 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the people of the town | | | | | surprised *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **is** | past · perfect | the night | | | | | short *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **hear** | past | people | | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 4 | **break** | past · perfect · passive | | the night calabash | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 5 | **capture** | participle | the witches *not said here* | | | | | | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is** | past | the witches | | | | | people *nsubj*; glad *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **go** | past | people *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 8 | **have** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | a look | | | | at people | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent look=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 85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/85/) - next →: [sentence 87](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/87/) - ↑ back to [Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/)