---
title: The parents were gone, the people had disappeared, the houses had al… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The parents were gone, the people had disappeared, the houses had all decayed, and the land was covered with a forest. Who acts: parents, people. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Water of Life [1], with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Water of Life \[1\], sentence 177

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The parents were gone, the people had disappeared, the houses had all decayed, and the land was covered with a forest.

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**Who acts:** parents, people · **What happens:** be, disappear, decay, cover · **To what, where:** houses, land

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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 (parents, people), 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:pg66357:4:177
# text = The parents were gone, the people had disappeared, the houses had all decayed, and the land was covered with a forest.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	gone	gone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	disappeared	disappear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	all	all	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	decayed	decay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the parents |  |  |  |  | gone *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **disappear** | past · perfect | the people |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **decay** | past · perfect · passive |  | the houses |  |  |  | all *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **cover** | past · passive |  | the land |  |  |  | with a forest | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with forest=Theme |

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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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