---
title: It has been greatly modified and enlarged, but the decree against ro… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: It has been greatly modified and enlarged, but the decree against robbery by any man, and especially the plunder of the weak by the powerful, had its beginning for Hawaii in the days of Ka-meha-meha. Who acts: man, law. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Law of the 
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Law of the Splintered Paddle, sentence 204

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It has been greatly modified and enlarged, but the decree against robbery by any man, and especially the plunder of the weak by the powerful, had its beginning for Hawaii in the days of Ka-meha-meha.

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**Who acts:** man, law · **What happens:** modify, enlarge, have, decree, begin · **To what, where:** law, beginning

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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 (man, law), 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:pg66357:18:204
# text = It has been greatly modified and enlarged, but the decree against robbery by any man, and especially the plunder of the weak by the powerful, had its beginning for Hawaii in the days of Ka-meha-meha.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	greatly	greatly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	modified	modify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	enlarged	enlarge	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	decree	decree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
12	against	against	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	robbery	robbery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	det	_	_
16	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	plunder	plunder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	nmod	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
30	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	beginning	beginning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	Hawaii	Hawaii	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	Ka	Ka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	meha	meha	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	38	dep	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	meha	meha	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	40	flat:foreign	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **modify** | present · perfect · passive |  | law |  |  |  | the decree against robbery by any man *obl*; the plunder of the weak *obl*; greatly *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **enlarge** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **have** | past |  | law's beginning |  |  | day | for Hawaii | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beginning=Patient |
| 4 | **decree** |  | any man |  |  |  |  | against robbery | nom decree «communication intransitive»: against=obl by=agent |
| 5 | **begin** |  | law |  |  |  |  |  | nom beginning «event transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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