---
title: One bright afternoon a tall, finely formed woman broke through the a… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: One bright afternoon a tall, finely formed woman broke through the arching branches which obstructed the path and approached the door where an old woman sat crooning to a child resting in her arms. Who acts: tall formed woman, arching branches, old woman. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» 
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Last of the Tabu, sentence 12

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One bright afternoon a tall, finely formed woman broke through the arching branches which obstructed the path and approached the door where an old woman sat crooning to a child resting in her arms.

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**Who acts:** tall formed woman, arching branches, old woman · **What happens:** form, break, obstruct, approach, sit, croon · **To what, where:** arching branches, path, door, child, arms

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Last of the Tabu. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tall formed woman, arching branches, old woman), 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:pg66357:19:12
# text = One bright afternoon a tall, finely formed woman broke through the arching branches which obstructed the path and approached the door where an old woman sat crooning to a child resting in her arms.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
2	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	afternoon	afternoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
5	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	finely	finely	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	formed	form	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	through	through	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	arching	arching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	obstructed	obstruct	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	27	advmod	_	_
24	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
28	crooning	croon	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	27	xcomp	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	resting	rest	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **form** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | finely *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **break** | past | a tall formed woman |  |  | the arching branches | afternoon |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through branch=Location |
| 3 | **obstruct** | past | the arching branches | the path |  |  |  |  | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer path=Eventuality |
| 4 | **approach** | past | a tall formed woman *not said here* | the door |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent door=Theme |
| 5 | **sit** | past | a old woman |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **croon** *speech: other* | gerund | a old woman *not said here* |  | a child |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to child=Recipient |
| 7 | **rest** | gerund | a old woman *not said here* |  |  | Hawaii's arms |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in arm=Location |

<!-- .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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