---
title: He believed that he knew best, therefore in after years when he beca… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: He believed that he knew best, therefore in after years when he became ruler over the group of islands he was thoroughly autocratic. Who acts: friend. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Law of the Splintered Paddle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Law of the Splintered Paddle, sentence 48

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He believed that he knew best, therefore in after years when he became ruler over the group of islands he was thoroughly autocratic.

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**Who acts:** friend · **What happens:** believe, know, become, be · **To what, where:** best, ruler, group, islands · **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 (friend), 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:pg66357:18:48
# text = He believed that he knew best, therefore in after years when he became ruler over the group of islands he was thoroughly autocratic.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	believed	believe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	in	in	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
10	after	after	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
15	ruler	ruler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	xcomp	_	_
16	over	over	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	group	group	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	islands	island	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
23	thoroughly	thoroughly	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	autocratic	autocratic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | past | friend |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **know** | past | friend | best |  |  | year |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer good=Stimulus |
| 3 | **become** | past | friend | ruler |  | the group of islands |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **is** | past | friend | islands *not said here* |  |  |  | autocratic, thoroughly *property* | tree rules |

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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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