---
title: While straining himself to see where the men were running, his foot… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: While straining himself to see where the men were running, his foot broke through a thin shell of lava into a crevice. Who acts: foot, men. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Law of the Splintered Paddle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Law of the Splintered Paddle, sentence 104

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While straining himself to see where the men were running, his foot broke through a thin shell of lava into a crevice.

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**Who acts:** foot, men · **What happens:** strain, see, run, break · **To what, where:** Ka, thin shell · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Law of the Splintered Paddle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (foot, men), 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:pg66357:18:104
# text = While straining himself to see where the men were running, his foot broke through a thin shell of lava into a crevice.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	straining	strain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	advcl	_	_
3	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
6	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	10	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	through	through	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	lava	lava	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
21	into	into	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	crevice	crevice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strain** | gerund | Ka's foot *not said here* | Ka |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent himself=Source |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive | Ka's foot *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **run** | past · progressive | the men |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **break** | past | Ka's foot |  |  | a thin shell of lava |  | into a crevice | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through shell=Location |

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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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