---
title: There were certain gifts of the sea which were very highly prized by… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: There were certain gifts of the sea which were very highly prized by all the chiefs of the Hawaiian Islands. Who acts: certain gifts, chiefs. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, King Kahahana, About 1773, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, King Kahahana, About 1773, sentence 17

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There were certain gifts of the sea which were very highly prized by all the chiefs of the Hawaiian Islands.

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**Who acts:** certain gifts, chiefs · **What happens:** be, prize, gift · **To what, where:** sea

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, King Kahahana, About 1773. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (certain gifts, chiefs), 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:pg66357:13:17
# text = There were certain gifts of the sea which were very highly prized by all the chiefs of the Hawaiian Islands.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	gifts	gift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
10	very	very	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	highly	highly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	prized	prize	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	16	det:predet	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl:agent	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	Hawaiian	Hawaiian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	Islands	Island	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | certain gifts of the sea |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **prize** | past · passive | all chiefs of the Hawaiian Islands | the sea |  |  |  | highly *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |
| 3 | **gift** |  |  | the sea |  |  |  |  | nom gift «possession transitive»: of=patient |

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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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