Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 45
After a time things became so bad that the slaves decided that they must kill Oga Erim, but they did not like to do so at once, as they thought that the Inkum people might suspect them, in which case they would be tortured in many different ways, so they resolved to wait two years before they revenged themselves upon their cruel master.
Who acts: slaves, Inkum people · What happens: become, decide, kill, not like, do, think · To what, where: Oga, slaves, case · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (slaves, Inkum 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
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | After | after | ADP | _ | 4 things | case |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 things | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 things | compound |
| 4 | things | thing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 became | obl |
| 5 | became | become | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | so | so | ADV | _ | 7 bad | advmod |
| 7 | bad | bad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 became | xcomp |
| 8 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 11 decided | mark |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 slaves | det |
| 10 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 decided | nsubj |
| 11 | decided | decide | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 bad | advcl |
| 12 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 15 kill | mark |
| 13 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 kill | nsubj |
| 14 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 15 kill | aux |
| 15 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 decided | ccomp |
| 16 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 kill | obj |
| 17 | Erim | Erim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 Oga | flat |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 like | punct |
| 19 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 23 like | cc |
| 20 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 like | nsubj |
| 21 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 like | aux |
| 22 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 23 like | advmod |
| 23 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 became | conj |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 do | mark |
| 25 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 like | xcomp |
| 26 | so | so | ADV | _ | 25 do | advmod |
| 27 | at | at | ADP | _ | 28 once | case |
| 28 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 25 do | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 thought | punct |
| 30 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 32 thought | mark |
| 31 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 thought | nsubj |
| 32 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 do | advcl |
| 33 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 38 suspect | mark |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 people | det |
| 35 | Inkum | Inkum | PROPN | Number=Sing | 36 people | compound |
| 36 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 38 suspect | nsubj |
| 37 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 38 suspect | aux |
| 38 | suspect | suspect | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 32 thought | ccomp |
| 39 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 suspect | obj |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 tortured | punct |
| 41 | in | in | ADP | _ | 43 case | case |
| 42 | which | which | DET | PronType=Int | 43 case | det |
| 43 | case | case | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 tortured | obl |
| 44 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 tortured | nsubj |
| 45 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 47 tortured | aux |
| 46 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 47 tortured | aux:pass |
| 47 | tortured | torture | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 38 suspect | conj |
| 48 | in | in | ADP | _ | 51 ways | case |
| 49 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 51 ways | amod |
| 50 | different | different | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 51 ways | amod |
| 51 | ways | way | NOUN | Number=Plur | 47 tortured | obl |
| 52 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 55 resolved | punct |
| 53 | so | so | ADV | _ | 55 resolved | advmod |
| 54 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 55 resolved | nsubj |
| 55 | resolved | resolve | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 47 tortured | advcl |
| 56 | to | to | PART | _ | 57 wait | mark |
| 57 | wait | wait | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 55 resolved | xcomp |
| 58 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 59 years | nummod |
| 59 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 57 wait | obl:unmarked |
| 60 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 62 revenged | mark |
| 61 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 62 revenged | nsubj |
| 62 | revenged | revenge | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 57 wait | advcl |
| 63 | themselves | themselves | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 62 revenged | obj |
| 64 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 67 master | case |
| 65 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 67 master | nmod:poss |
| 66 | cruel | cruel | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 67 master | amod |
| 67 | master | master | NOUN | Number=Sing | 62 revenged | obl |
| 68 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 became | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | become | past | after a time things | bad property | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 2 | decide | past | the slaves | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | kill | must | slaves = slave | Oga | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oga=Theme | ||||
| 4 | not like | past · do-support | slaves = slave | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | do not said to happen | to-infinitive | slaves = slave not said here | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | think speech: other | past | slaves = slave | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 7 | suspect | might | the Inkum people | slaves = slave | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent they=Attribute | ||||
| 8 | torture | would · passive | slaves = slave | which case | in many different ways | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer | |||
| 9 | resolve | past | slaves = slave | tree rules | |||||
| 10 | wait | to-infinitive | slaves = slave not said here | year | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 11 | revenge | past | slaves = slave | slaves = slave | upon slaves's cruel master | tree rules |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/20/45/