---
title: Because they wanted the yams of Niihau, they sailed over to that isl… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Because they wanted the yams of Niihau, they sailed over to that island and purchased yams, sweet potatoes, and pigs, and on March 15th sailed out into the mist of the ocean and were completely lost to sight. Who acts: ships. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Captain C
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Captain Cook, sentence 196

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Because they wanted the yams of Niihau, they sailed over to that island and purchased yams, sweet potatoes, and pigs, and on March 15th sailed out into the mist of the ocean and were completely lost to sight.

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**Who acts:** ships · **What happens:** want, sail over, purchase, sail out, lose, mist · **To what, where:** yams, pigs, island, 15th, ocean

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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 (ships), 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:pg66357:12:196
# text = Because they wanted the yams of Niihau, they sailed over to that island and purchased yams, sweet potatoes, and pigs, and on March 15th sailed out into the mist of the ocean and were completely lost to sight.
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	yams	yam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Niihau	Niihau	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	sailed	sail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	over	over	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	det	_	_
14	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	purchased	purchase	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	amod	_	_
17	yams	yam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	potatoes	potato	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	pigs	pig	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	March	March	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod:unmarked	_	_
28	15th	15th	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Combi|NumType=Ord	29	obl	_	_
29	sailed	sail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
30	out	out	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	mist	mist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	ocean	ocean	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux:pass	_	_
39	completely	completely	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	conj	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | ships *= ship* | the yams of Niihau |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot yam=Theme |
| 2 | **sail over** | past | ships *= ship* | pigs |  | that island and purchased yams and sweet potatoes |  | over *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent to island=Trajectory |
| 3 | **purchase** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 4 | **sail out** | past | ships *= ship* *not said here* |  |  | 15th  March |  | into the mist of the ocean; out *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent into mist=Trajectory |
| 5 | **lose** | past · passive | ships *= ship* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to sight; completely *property* | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V» |
| 6 | **mist** |  |  | the ocean |  |  |  |  | nom mist «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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