---
title: He came down from the tree and she told him what he must do to get t… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: He came down from the tree and she told him what he must do to get the water of life: “Go and break the stem of a water plant, and near it a bush with white flowers. Who acts: guardian, woman. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Water of Life [1], with its dependency
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Water of Life \[1\], sentence 148

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He came down from the tree and she told him what he must do to get the water of life: “Go and break the stem of a water plant, and near it a bush with white flowers.

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**Who acts:** guardian, woman · **What happens:** come down, tell, do, get, go, break · **To what, where:** tree, guardian, water, stem, water plant · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (guardian, woman), 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:pg66357:4:148
# text = He came down from the tree and she told him what he must do to get the water of life: “Go and break the stem of a water plant, and near it a bush with white flowers.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	down	down	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	iobj	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	obj	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
22	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	Go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	break	break	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	stem	stem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
34	near	near	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come down** | past | guardian |  |  | the tree |  | a bush near water with white flowers *parataxis*; down *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | woman |  | guardian |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** *not said to happen* | must | guardian |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 4 | **get** | to-infinitive | guardian *not said here* | the water of life |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer water=Stimulus |
| 5 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **break** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the stem of a water plant |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer stem=Patient |
| 7 | **stem** *in a quote* |  |  | a water plant |  |  |  |  | nom stem «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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