---
title: The captain of this ship, Alexander Adams, found trouble waiting for… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The captain of this ship, Alexander Adams, found trouble waiting for him at Canton, “because the Chinese authorities refused to recognise the Hawaiian flag, which had never before been seen in that port.” Who acts: found trouble, captain. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westerve
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Hawaiian Flag, sentence 50

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The captain of this ship, Alexander Adams, found trouble waiting for him at Canton, “because the Chinese authorities refused to recognise the Hawaiian flag, which had never before been seen in that port.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** found trouble, captain · **What happens:** find, wait, refuse, not recognise, not see · **To what, where:** Canton, Hawaiian flag, port

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Hawaiian Flag. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (found trouble, captain), 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:pg66357:22:50
# text = The captain of this ship, Alexander Adams, found trouble waiting for him at Canton, “because the Chinese authorities refused to recognise the Hawaiian flag, which had never before been seen in that port.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	Alexander	Alexander	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	Adams	adam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	_
11	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
12	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	acl	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Canton	Canton	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	authorities	authority	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
23	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	recognise	recognise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	Hawaiian	hawaiian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	flag	flag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	obj	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
32	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
33	before	before	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
34	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl:relcl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	38	det	_	_
38	port	port	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **wait** | gerund | found trouble *not said here* |  |  | Canton |  | for Captain | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at canton=Location |
| 3 | **refuse** *in a quote* | past | the captain of this ship and Alexander Adams and found trouble |  |  |  |  | the Chinese authorities *nsubj* | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **recognise** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the captain of this ship and Alexander Adams and found trouble *not said here* | the Hawaiian flag |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer flag=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **see** *in a quote* | past · perfect · passive |  | the Hawaiian flag |  | that port |  | before *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: which=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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