---
title: Before the days of the Constitution and legislature the king held al… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Before the days of the Constitution and legislature the king held all power in his own hands, although the Aha-alii, or Council of Chiefs, was a factor with which he continually reckoned. Who acts: king. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The First Constitution, with it
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The First Constitution, sentence 59

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Before the days of the Constitution and legislature the king held all power in his own hands, although the Aha-alii, or Council of Chiefs, was a factor with which he continually reckoned.

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** hold, be, reckon · **To what, where:** power, own hands, factor

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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), 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:pg66357:21:59
# text = Before the days of the Constitution and legislature the king held all power in his own hands, although the Aha-alii, or Council of Chiefs, was a factor with which he continually reckoned.
1	Before	before	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Constitution	constitution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	legislature	legislature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	13	det	_	_
13	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	Aha	Aha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	alii	alii	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	Council	Council	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Chiefs	Chief	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	factor	factor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	obl	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	continually	continually	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	reckoned	reckon	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | past | the king | all power |  | king's own hands | day | the Aha alii  Council of Chiefs *obl* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent power=Theme in hand=Location |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | a factor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **reckon** | past | king |  |  |  |  | with a factor; continually *property* | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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