---
title: Many difficulties had been decided according to the tabu, or practic… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Many difficulties had been decided according to the tabu, or practices of the chiefs, or according to the general principles of common law. 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 28

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Many difficulties had been decided according to the tabu, or practices of the chiefs, or according to the general principles of common law.

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**What happens:** decide, accord, practice · **To what, where:** Many difficulties, chiefs

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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: 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:pg66357:21:28
# text = Many difficulties had been decided according to the tabu, or practices of the chiefs, or according to the general principles of common law.
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	difficulties	difficulty	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	decided	decide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	case	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	tabu	tabu	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	practices	practice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
18	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	case	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	fixed	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	principles	principle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decide** | past · perfect · passive |  | Many difficulties |  |  |  | accord the tabu; accord the general principles of common law; practices of the chiefs *obl* | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **practice** |  |  | the chiefs |  |  |  |  | nom practice «act 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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