---
title: Maui was impatient—and just as an old bird began to select sticks wi… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Maui was impatient—and just as an old bird began to select sticks with which to make the flames he leaped swiftly out and caught her and held her prisoner. Who acts: Maui, old bird. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Maui the Polynesian, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Maui the Polynesian, sentence 63

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Maui was impatient—and just as an old bird began to select sticks with which to make the flames he leaped swiftly out and caught her and held her prisoner.

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**Who acts:** Maui, old bird · **What happens:** be, begin, select, make, leap, catch · **To what, where:** sticks, flames, art, prisoner

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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 (Maui, old bird), 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:pg66357:2:63
# text = Maui was impatient—and just as an old bird began to select sticks with which to make the flames he leaped swiftly out and caught her and held her prisoner.
1	Maui	Maui	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	impatient	impatient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
6	just	just	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	select	select	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	flames	flame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	leaped	leap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
23	swiftly	swiftly	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	out	out	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
27	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
30	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	prisoner	prisoner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Maui |  |  |  |  | impatient *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **begin** | past | a old bird |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **select** | to-infinitive | a old bird *not said here* | sticks |  |  |  | which *obj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **make** | to-infinitive | a old bird *not said here* | the flames |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset flame=Product |
| 5 | **leap** | past | Maui | the flames *not said here* |  |  |  | out *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme flame=Trajectory |
| 6 | **catch** | past | Maui *not said here* | art |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 7 | **hold** | past | Maui *not said here* | art's prisoner |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prisoner=Theme |

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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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