---
title: This complaint of the people, however, would have a much better grac… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: This complaint of the people, however, would have a much better grace if they with energy improved their time on their own free days; but lo! this is not the case. Who acts: complaint, people, this. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The First Constitution, with its dep
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The First Constitution, sentence 96

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This complaint of the people, however, would have a much better grace if they with energy improved their time on their own free days; but lo! this is not the case.

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**Who acts:** complaint, people, this · **What happens:** have, improve, not be, complain · **To what, where:** better grace, case

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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 (complaint, people, this), 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:pg66357:21:96
# text = This complaint of the people, however, would have a much better grace if they with energy improved their time on their own free days; but lo! this is not the case.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	complaint	complaint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
7	however	however	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	much	much	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	14	amod	_	_
14	grace	grace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	energy	energy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
19	improved	improve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
20	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
24	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
25	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
29	lo	lo	INTJ	UH	_	35	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	_
31	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	35	nsubj	_	_
32	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | would | this complaint of the people | a better grace |  |  |  | however *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grace=Patient |
| 2 | **improve** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | people |  |  |  | day; time | with energy | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with energy=Instrument |
| 3 | **not** **is a** | present | this | the case |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **complain** |  | the people |  |  |  |  |  | nom complaint «state intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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