---
title: He leaped down upon the back of a watchman on the edge of the pit, w… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: He leaped down upon the back of a watchman on the edge of the pit, who had been put there by the guardian to kill any one coming after the water. Who acts: traveller, guardian, one. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Water of Life [1], with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Water of Life \[1\], sentence 124

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He leaped down upon the back of a watchman on the edge of the pit, who had been put there by the guardian to kill any one coming after the water.

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**Who acts:** traveller, guardian, one · **What happens:** leap down, put, kill, come · **To what, where:** edge, pit, one

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Water of Life \[1\]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (traveller, guardian, one), 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:pg66357:4:124
# text = He leaped down upon the back of a watchman on the edge of the pit, who had been put there by the guardian to kill any one coming after the water.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	leaped	leap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	down	down	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	watchman	watchman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl:relcl	_	_
21	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	guardian	guardian	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
27	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	det	_	_
28	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	coming	come	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	acl	_	_
30	after	after	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leap down** | past | traveller |  |  | the edge of the pit |  | upon the back of a watchman; down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon back=Trajectory |
| 2 | **put** | past · perfect · passive | the guardian | the pit |  | there |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent subject=Goal |
| 3 | **kill** | to-infinitive | the guardian *not said here* | any one |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 4 | **come** | gerund | any one *not said here* |  |  |  | after the water |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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