---
title: The women told him that they had been sent to kill him, but that the… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: The women told him that they had been sent to kill him, but that they would say they did not find him; then other messengers would be sent. Who acts: women, Aukele. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Water of Life [1], with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Water of Life \[1\], sentence 41

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The women told him that they had been sent to kill him, but that they would say they did not find him; then other messengers would be sent.

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**Who acts:** women, Aukele · **What happens:** tell, send, kill, say, not find · **To what, where:** god, Aukele, other messengers · **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 (women, Aukele), 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:pg66357:4:41
# text = The women told him that they had been sent to kill him, but that they would say they did not find him; then other messengers would be sent.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	ccomp	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
25	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	27	advmod	_	_
26	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the women |  | god |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **send** | past · perfect · passive |  | Aukele |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **kill** | to-infinitive |  | god |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | would | Aukele |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **find** | past · do-support | Aukele | god |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Topic |
| 6 | **send** | would · passive |  | other messengers |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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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