---
title: The first instruction was necessarily in English, but the missionari… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The first instruction was necessarily in English, but the missionaries used every opportunity to become acquainted with the speech of the people and make it a written language. Who acts: first instruction, missionaries. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, First Hawaiian 
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, First Hawaiian Printing, sentence 16

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The first instruction was necessarily in English, but the missionaries used every opportunity to become acquainted with the speech of the people and make it a written language.

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**Who acts:** first instruction, missionaries · **What happens:** be, use, become, make, write, speak · **To what, where:** English, opportunity, people · **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 (first instruction, missionaries), 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:pg66357:20:16
# text = The first instruction was necessarily in English, but the missionaries used every opportunity to become acquainted with the speech of the people and make it a written language.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	instruction	instruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	necessarily	necessarily	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	missionaries	missionary	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
13	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
14	opportunity	opportunity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl	_	_
17	acquainted	acquainted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	xcomp	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	amod	_	_
29	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the first instruction |  |  | English |  | necessarily *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | past | the missionaries | every opportunity |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent opportunity=Patient |
| 3 | **become** | to-infinitive | the missionaries *not said here* | every opportunity *not said here* |  |  |  | acquainted *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **make** | present | the missionaries *not said here* | opportunity |  |  |  | a written language *obj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset it=Beneficiary language=Product |
| 5 | **write** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **speak** |  |  | the people |  |  |  |  | nom speech «communication 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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