---
title: They had guns and here and there a white man who had been kidnapped… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: They had guns and here and there a white man who had been kidnapped or persuaded to desert from the few ships already visiting the islands. Who acts: chiefs. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Red Mouth Gun, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Red Mouth Gun, sentence 15

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They had guns and here and there a white man who had been kidnapped or persuaded to desert from the few ships already visiting the islands.

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**Who acts:** chiefs · **What happens:** have, kidnap, persuade, desert, visit · **To what, where:** guns, white man, few ships, islands

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Red Mouth Gun. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chiefs), 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:pg66357:17:15
# text = They had guns and here and there a white man who had been kidnapped or persuaded to desert from the few ships already visiting the islands.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	guns	gun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	conj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	kidnapped	kidnap	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl:relcl	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	persuaded	persuade	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	desert	desert	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
23	already	already	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	visiting	visit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | chiefs *= chief* | guns |  | there |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gun=Patient |
| 2 | **kidnap** | past · perfect · passive |  | a white man |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **persuade** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Result |
| 4 | **desert** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the few ships |  |  | vn leave-51.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from ship=Destination |
| 5 | **visit** | gerund |  | the islands |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent island=Co-Agent |

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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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