---
title: In the other letter he says he is building a house and wants a “sah… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: In the other letter he says he is building a house and wants a “sah tool” which he will return when the work is done. Who acts: Davis, sah tool. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, First Hawaiian Printing, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, First Hawaiian Printing, sentence 13

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In the other letter he says he is building a house and wants a “sah tool” which he will return when the work is done.

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**Who acts:** Davis, sah tool · **What happens:** say, build, want, return, do · **To what, where:** other letter, house, sah tool, work · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, First Hawaiian Printing. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Davis, sah tool), 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:pg66357:20:13
# text = In the other letter he says he is building a house and wants a “sah tool” which he will return when the work is done.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	building	build	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	ccomp	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	sah	sah	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	tool	tool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	parataxis	_	_
23	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Davis |  |  | the other letter |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **build** | present · progressive | Davis | a house |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Product |
| 3 | **want** | present | Davis *not said here* | a sah tool |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot tool=Theme |
| 4 | **return** | future | a sah tool |  |  |  |  | Davis *nsubj* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **do** | present · passive |  | the work |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |

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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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