---
title: There was a bloody hand-to-hand struggle, in which thrusting with sp… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: There was a bloody hand-to-hand struggle, in which thrusting with spears and striking with clubs meant almost certain death to those who were not able to get in the first blow. Who acts: bloody hand struggle, clubs. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Alapa Regiment,
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Alapa Regiment, sentence 17

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There was a bloody hand-to-hand struggle, in which thrusting with spears and striking with clubs meant almost certain death to those who were not able to get in the first blow.

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**Who acts:** bloody hand struggle, clubs · **What happens:** be, thrust, strike, mean, not be, get · **To what, where:** bloody hand struggle, certain death, first blow

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Alapa Regiment. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bloody hand struggle, clubs), 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:pg66357:14:17
# text = There was a bloody hand-to-hand struggle, in which thrusting with spears and striking with clubs meant almost certain death to those who were not able to get in the first blow.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
4	bloody	bloody	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
5	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	struggle	struggle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obl	_	_
14	thrusting	thrust	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	appos	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	spears	spear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	striking	strike	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	conj	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	clubs	club	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
21	meant	mean	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	acl	_	_
22	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	21	obl	_	_
27	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	acl:relcl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	36	amod	_	_
36	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	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 | a bloody hand struggle  hand |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **thrust** | gerund |  |  |  | a bloody hand struggle  hand |  | with spears | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **strike** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with clubs | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with club=Theme |
| 4 | **mean** | participle | clubs *not said here* | certain death |  |  |  | to clubs | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot death=Theme to that=Attribute |
| 5 | **not** **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | who *nsubj*; able *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **get** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the first blow |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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