---
title: To hang to a wave, cling to its white mane, to have such mastery ove… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: To hang to a wave, cling to its white mane, to have such mastery over it as not to be thrown back to the next wave, was a trial of strength and judgment, and might easily bring the sought-for reward. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Sons of Kii, with its dependenc
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Sons of Kii, sentence 132

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To hang to a wave, cling to its white mane, to have such mastery over it as not to be thrown back to the next wave, was a trial of strength and judgment, and might easily bring the sought-for reward.

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**What happens:** hang, have, not throw back, be, bring, seek · **To what, where:** such mastery, mastery, next wave, trial, sought reward

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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: 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:pg66357:7:132
# text = To hang to a wave, cling to its white mane, to have such mastery over it as not to be thrown back to the next wave, was a trial of strength and judgment, and might easily bring the sought-for reward.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hang	hang	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	wave	wave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	cling	cling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	mane	mane	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	have	have	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
15	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	mastery	mastery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	over	over	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	thrown	throw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	_
24	back	back	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	wave	wave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	trial	trial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	judgment	judgment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
40	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	bring	bring	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
43	sought	seek	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	46	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	for	for	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	reward	reward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hang** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to a wave and cling; to cling's white mane | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **have** | to-infinitive |  | such mastery |  | mastery |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mastery=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **throw back** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  | the next wave |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: to wave=Destination |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | a trial |  |  |  | of strength and judgment | tree rules |
| 5 | **bring** | might |  | the sought reward |  |  |  | easily *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent reward=Theme |
| 6 | **seek** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=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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