---
title: Sometimes a very skilful surf-rider would go through the motions of… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Sometimes a very skilful surf-rider would go through the motions of fighting a battle—throwing the javelin, pushing with a spear, striking with a war-club or stabbing with a dagger. Who acts: skilful surf rider, motions. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Sons of Ki
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Sons of Kii, sentence 136

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Sometimes a very skilful surf-rider would go through the motions of fighting a battle—throwing the javelin, pushing with a spear, striking with a war-club or stabbing with a dagger.

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**Who acts:** skilful surf rider, motions · **What happens:** go, fight, throw, push, strike, stab · **To what, where:** motions, battle, javelin

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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 (skilful surf rider, motions), 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:pg66357:7:136
# text = Sometimes a very skilful surf-rider would go through the motions of fighting a battle—throwing the javelin, pushing with a spear, striking with a war-club or stabbing with a dagger.
1	Sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	9	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	skilful	skilful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
5	surf	surf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	rider	rider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	through	through	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	motions	motion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
13	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	throwing	throw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	parataxis	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	javelin	javelin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	pushing	push	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	conj	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	striking	strike	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	conj	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
30	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	club	club	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
33	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	stabbing	stab	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	conj	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	dagger	dagger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | would | a skilful surf rider |  |  | the motions |  | sometimes *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through motion=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **fight** | gerund | the motions *not said here* | a battle |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent battle=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **throw** | gerund |  | the javelin |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent javelin=Theme |
| 4 | **push** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with a spear | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **strike** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with a war club | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with club=Theme |
| 6 | **stab** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with a dagger | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with dagger=Instrument |

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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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