---
title: He was over six feet in height, strong and sinewy, excelling all oth… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: He was over six feet in height, strong and sinewy, excelling all other chiefs in athletic exercises, cruel to enemies, ruling his own household with a rod of iron, generous and brave among his friends, and filled with a fatalistic belief in his own destiny. Who acts: friend, six feet. A sentence of 
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Law of the Splintered Paddle, sentence 46

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He was over six feet in height, strong and sinewy, excelling all other chiefs in athletic exercises, cruel to enemies, ruling his own household with a rod of iron, generous and brave among his friends, and filled with a fatalistic belief in his own destiny.

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**Who acts:** friend, six feet · **What happens:** be, excel, rule, fill · **To what, where:** six feet, height, other chiefs, athletic exercises, own household

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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 (friend, six feet), 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:pg66357:18:46
# text = He was over six feet in height, strong and sinewy, excelling all other chiefs in athletic exercises, cruel to enemies, ruling his own household with a rod of iron, generous and brave among his friends, and filled with a fatalistic belief in his own destiny.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	over	over	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	height	height	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	sinewy	sinewy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	excelling	excel	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	16	det	_	_
15	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	athletic	athletic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	exercises	exercise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	ruling	rule	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	conj	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	rod	rod	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
35	generous	generous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	conj	_	_
38	among	among	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
44	with	with	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	fatalistic	fatalistic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	belief	belief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
50	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	destiny	destiny	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | friend | six feet |  | height |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **excel** | gerund | six feet *not said here* | all other chiefs |  | athletic exercises |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **rule** | gerund | six feet *not said here* | friend's own household |  |  |  | with a rod of iron | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent household=Theme |
| 4 | **fill** | participle |  | six feet *not said here* |  |  |  | with a fatalistic belief in friend's own destiny | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with belief=Instrument |

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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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