---
title: He knew well that he was king by virtue of the choice of his chiefs… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: He knew well that he was king by virtue of the choice of his chiefs and not by blood descent. Who acts: king. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, In the Days of Kahahana, 1782, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, In the Days of Kahahana, 1782, sentence 30

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He knew well that he was king by virtue of the choice of his chiefs and not by blood descent.

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** know, be · **To what, where:** king

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, In the Days of Kahahana, 1782. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king), 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:pg66357:15:30
# text = He knew well that he was king by virtue of the choice of his chiefs and not by blood descent.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	advcl	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	virtue	virtue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	choice	choice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	descent	descent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	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 | **know** | past | king |  |  |  |  | by virtue of the choice of king's chiefs and blood descent; well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | past | king | king |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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