---
title: “Formerly if the king wished the property of any man he took it with… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: “Formerly if the king wished the property of any man he took it without reward, seized it by force or took a portion only, as he chose, and no man could refuse him. Who acts: king, property, man. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The First Constitution, with its depend
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The First Constitution, sentence 106

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“Formerly if the king wished the property of any man he took it without reward, seized it by force or took a portion only, as he chose, and no man could refuse him.

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**Who acts:** king, property, man · **What happens:** wish, take, seize, choose, refuse · **To what, where:** idler, portion, property · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The First Constitution. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, property, man), 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:pg66357:21:106
# text = “Formerly if the king wished the property of any man he took it without reward, seized it by force or took a portion only, as he chose, and no man could refuse him.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Formerly	formerly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	without	without	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	reward	reward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	only	only	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	34	det	_	_
34	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	refuse	refuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	conj	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** *in a quote* | past | the king |  |  |  |  | formerly *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **take** *in a quote* | past | the property of any man | idler |  |  |  | without reward | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **seize** *in a quote* | past | the property of any man *not said here* | idler |  |  |  | by force | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **take** *in a quote* | past | the property of any man *not said here* | a portion |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent portion=Theme |
| 5 | **choose** *in a quote* | past | property |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **refuse** *in a quote* | could | no man | property |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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