---
title: They said among themselves, “There are three in the boat and we know… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: They said among themselves, “There are three in the boat and we know not where the other one is, we will make no fire to-day.” Who acts: fishermen, three, we, other one. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Maui the Polynesian, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Maui the Polynesian, sentence 57

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They said among themselves, “There are three in the boat and we know not where the other one is, we will make no fire to-day.”

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**Who acts:** fishermen, three, we, other one · **What happens:** say, be, not know, make · **To what, where:** fire · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Maui the Polynesian. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fishermen, three, we, other one), 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:pg66357:2:57
# text = They said among themselves, “There are three in the boat and we know not where the other one is, we will make no fire to-day.”
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	among	among	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	8	expl	_	_
8	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
9	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nsubj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
17	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	21	advmod	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
26	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	27	det	_	_
27	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	25	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | fishermen *= fisherman* |  |  |  |  | among fishermen *= fisherman* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **be** *in a quote* | present | three in the boat |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **know** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **be** *in a quote* | present | the other one |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **make** *in a quote* | future | we | no fire |  |  | day |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Product |

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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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