---
title: This was so changed that if a chief should attempt it “he would inst… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: This was so changed that if a chief should attempt it “he would instantly cease to be a chief on this archipelago.” Who acts: chief, man. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The First Constitution, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The First Constitution, sentence 108

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This was so changed that if a chief should attempt it “he would instantly cease to be a chief on this archipelago.”

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**Who acts:** chief, man · **What happens:** change, attempt, cease, be · **To what, where:** This, same, chief, archipelago · **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 (chief, 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:pg66357:21:108
# text = This was so changed that if a chief should attempt it “he would instantly cease to be a chief on this archipelago.”
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	attempt	attempt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	cease	cease	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	cop	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	ccomp	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	det	_	_
23	archipelago	archipelago	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | past · passive |  | This |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **attempt** | should | a chief | same |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 3 | **cease** *in a quote* | would | man |  |  |  |  | instantly *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | a chief |  | this archipelago |  |  | tree rules |

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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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