---
title: Balboa must have wished for a Nicaraguan or Panama Canal when he car… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Balboa must have wished for a Nicaraguan or Panama Canal when he carried timbers across the isthmus and built a ship on the Pacific coast to explore the new ocean which he had discovered. Who acts: Balboa. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, First Foreigners, with its de
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, First Foreigners, sentence 9

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Balboa must have wished for a Nicaraguan or Panama Canal when he carried timbers across the isthmus and built a ship on the Pacific coast to explore the new ocean which he had discovered.

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**Who acts:** Balboa · **What happens:** wish, carry, build, explore, discover · **To what, where:** Balboa, timbers, isthmus, ship, Pacific coast, new ocean

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, First Foreigners. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Balboa), 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:pg66357:11:9
# text = Balboa must have wished for a Nicaraguan or Panama Canal when he carried timbers across the isthmus and built a ship on the Pacific coast to explore the new ocean which he had discovered.
1	Balboa	Balboa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	wished	wish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	Nicaraguan	Nicaraguan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	Panama	Panama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
10	Canal	Canal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
14	timbers	timber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	across	across	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	isthmus	isthmus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	Pacific	Pacific	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	coast	coast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	explore	explore	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	ocean	ocean	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	discovered	discover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** | must · perfect · passive |  | Balboa |  |  |  | for a Nicaraguan Canal | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **carry** | past | Balboa | timbers |  | the isthmus |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent timber=Theme |
| 3 | **build** | past |  | a ship |  | the Pacific coast |  |  | vn base-97.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent ship=Theme on coast=Source |
| 4 | **explore** | to-infinitive |  | the new ocean |  |  |  |  | vn investigate-35.4 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent ocean=Location |
| 5 | **discover** | past · perfect · passive |  | the new ocean |  |  |  | Balboa *nsubj* | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

<!-- .note -->
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:** «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Project Gutenberg book 66357 (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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