---
title: The spear came unerringly toward the prisoner, but as he saw the pol… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The spear came unerringly toward the prisoner, but as he saw the polished shaft almost piercing him he twisted to one side and it sank deep into the body of the chief who carried him. Who acts: spear, captive, shaft, chief. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Eight o
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Eight of Oahu, sentence 62

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The spear came unerringly toward the prisoner, but as he saw the polished shaft almost piercing him he twisted to one side and it sank deep into the body of the chief who carried him.

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**Who acts:** spear, captive, shaft, chief · **What happens:** come, see, polish, pierce, twist, sink · **To what, where:** prisoner, polished shaft, captive, one side, body

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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 (spear, captive, shaft, chief), 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:pg66357:16:62
# text = The spear came unerringly toward the prisoner, but as he saw the polished shaft almost piercing him he twisted to one side and it sank deep into the body of the chief who carried him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unerringly	unerringly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	prisoner	prisoner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	polished	polish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	amod	_	_
15	shaft	shaft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	piercing	pierce	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	twisted	twist	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nummod	_	_
23	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	sank	sink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
27	deep	deep	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	into	into	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
34	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
35	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the spear |  |  | the prisoner |  | unerringly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme toward prisoner=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **see** | past | captive | the polished shaft |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shaft=Stimulus |
| 3 | **polish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **pierce** | gerund | captive *not said here* | captive |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP PP.patient»: agent=Agent he=Instrument |
| 5 | **twist** | past | captive |  |  | one side |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to side=Trajectory |
| 6 | **sink** | past | shaft |  |  | the body of the chief |  | deep *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **carry** | past | the chief | captive |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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