---
title: They had thought that this little company would afford them an excel… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: They had thought that this little company would afford them an excellent sacrifice for their war gods, and had hoped to take them alive, even at the expense of the lives of a few men. Who acts: little company. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Eight of Oahu, with i
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Eight of Oahu, sentence 41

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They had thought that this little company would afford them an excellent sacrifice for their war gods, and had hoped to take them alive, even at the expense of the lives of a few men.

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**Who acts:** little company · **What happens:** think, afford, hope, take · **To what, where:** warriors · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Eight of Oahu. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little company), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66357:16:41
# text = They had thought that this little company would afford them an excellent sacrifice for their war gods, and had hoped to take them alive, even at the expense of the lives of a few men.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	afford	afford	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	excellent	excellent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	sacrifice	sacrifice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	hoped	hope	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	even	even	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	expense	expense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive |  | warriors *= warrior* |  |  |  | the expense of the lives of a few men *parataxis* | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 2 | **afford** | would | this little company | warriors *= warrior* |  |  |  | for warriors's war gods; a excellent sacrifice *obj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **hope** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **take** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | warriors *= warrior* |  |  |  | alive *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

<!-- .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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