---
title: He saw them and called to one of them to kill him rather than let hi… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: He saw them and called to one of them to kill him rather than let him be sacrificed alive. Who acts: captive. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Eight of Oahu, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Eight of Oahu, sentence 59

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He saw them and called to one of them to kill him rather than let him be sacrificed alive.

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**Who acts:** captive · **What happens:** see, call, kill, let, sacrifice · **To what, where:** friends, one, captive · **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 (captive), 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:pg66357:16:59
# text = He saw them and called to one of them to kill him rather than let him be sacrificed alive.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nmod	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	15	cc	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	13	fixed	_	_
15	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	sacrificed	sacrifice	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	xcomp	_	_
19	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | captive | friends *= friend* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 2 | **call** | past | captive *not said here* |  | one of friends |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to one=Recipient |
| 3 | **kill** | to-infinitive | captive *not said here* | captive |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 4 | **let** | infinitive | captive *not said here* | captive |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **sacrifice** | infinitive · passive | captive *not said here* |  |  |  |  | alive *property* | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V» |

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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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