---
title: They decided they had better get the king, take him on the ship, and… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: They decided they had better get the king, take him on the ship, and hold him until the boat should be returned, and then set him free. Who acts: natives. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Captain Cook, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Captain Cook, sentence 159

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They decided they had better get the king, take him on the ship, and hold him until the boat should be returned, and then set him free.

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**Who acts:** natives · **What happens:** decide, have, get, take, hold, return · **To what, where:** king, ship, boat · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Captain Cook. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (natives), 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:pg66357:12:159
# text = They decided they had better get the king, take him on the ship, and hold him until the boat should be returned, and then set him free.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	decided	decide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	xcomp	_	_
6	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	returned	return	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	_
28	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decide** | past | natives *= native* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | past | natives *= native* |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **get** | infinitive | natives *= native* *not said here* | the king |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer king=Stimulus |
| 4 | **take** | infinitive | natives *= native* *not said here* |  | King | the ship |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination |
| 5 | **hold** | infinitive | natives *= native* *not said here* | King |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 6 | **return** | should · passive |  | the boat |  |  |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 7 | **set** | infinitive | natives *= native* *not said here* | King |  |  | then | free *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient he=Result |

<!-- .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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