---
title: Some of the surf-riders contented themselves by simply lying on the… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Some of the surf-riders contented themselves by simply lying on the board, endeavouring by skilful use of hand and foot to hasten their passage on the crest of the huge surf waves. Who acts: Some, hundreds. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Sons of Kii, with its de
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Sons of Kii, sentence 128

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Some of the surf-riders contented themselves by simply lying on the board, endeavouring by skilful use of hand and foot to hasten their passage on the crest of the huge surf waves.

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**Who acts:** Some, hundreds · **What happens:** content, lie, endeavour, hasten, use, pass · **To what, where:** hundreds, board, passage, crest, hand

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Sons of Kii. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Some, hundreds), 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:pg66357:7:128
# text = Some of the surf-riders contented themselves by simply lying on the board, endeavouring by skilful use of hand and foot to hasten their passage on the crest of the huge surf waves.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	surf	surf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	riders	rider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
7	contented	content	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obj	_	_
9	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	simply	simply	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	board	board	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	endeavouring	endeavour	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	conj	_	_
17	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	skilful	skilful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	hasten	hasten	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	crest	crest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
33	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
34	surf	surf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **content** | past | Some | hundreds *= hundred* |  |  |  | of the surf riders | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus themselves=Experiencer |
| 2 | **lie** | gerund | Some *not said here* |  |  | the board |  | simply *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on board=Location |
| 3 | **endeavour** | gerund | Some *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by skilful use of hand and foot | tree rules |
| 4 | **hasten** | to-infinitive | Some *not said here* | hundreds's passage |  | the crest of the huge surf waves |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent passage=Theme on crest=Trajectory |
| 5 | **use** |  |  | hand |  |  |  |  | nom use «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 6 | **pass** |  | hundreds *= hundred* |  |  |  |  |  | nom passage «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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