---
title: And no one has described the old woman who could not understand the… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: And no one has described the old woman who could not understand the new order of things, but sat in the door of the grass house in the valley and grieved over the shattered doctrines of her forefathers. Who acts: old woman. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Last of the
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Last of the Tabu, sentence 88

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And no one has described the old woman who could not understand the new order of things, but sat in the door of the grass house in the valley and grieved over the shattered doctrines of her forefathers.

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**Who acts:** old woman · **What happens:** describe, not understand, sit, grieve, order, indoctrinate · **To what, where:** one, new order, door, shattered doctrines, things, forefathers

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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 (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:pg66357:19:88
# text = And no one has described the old woman who could not understand the new order of things, but sat in the door of the grass house in the valley and grieved over the shattered doctrines of her forefathers.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	described	describe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl:relcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	_
27	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	valley	valley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	grieved	grieve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	conj	_	_
33	over	over	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	shattered	shattered	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	doctrines	doctrine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	forefathers	forefather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **describe** | present · perfect · passive |  | no one |  |  |  | the old woman *obj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **understand** | could | the old woman | the new order of things |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer order=Stimulus |
| 3 | **sit** | past |  |  |  | the door of the grass house |  | in the valley | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in door=Location |
| 4 | **grieve** | participle |  |  |  | the shattered doctrines of Kailua's forefathers |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **order** |  |  | things |  |  |  |  | nom order «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 6 | **indoctrinate** |  |  | Kailua's forefathers |  |  |  |  | nom doctrine «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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