--- title: Vai-ta-piha easily extricated himself, and balanced upon his surf bo… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics description: Vai-ta-piha easily extricated himself, and balanced upon his surf board was about to dash to land, but he saw in front of his board the body of an insensible chief roll from between two boards and begin to sink. Who acts: Vai, surf board. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westerve --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/7/147/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Hawaiian Historical Legends](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/) / [The Sons of Kii](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/7/) / 147 # Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Sons of Kii, sentence 147 Vai-ta-piha easily extricated himself, and balanced upon his surf board was about to dash to land, but he saw in front of his board the body of an insensible chief roll from between two boards and begin to sink. **Who acts:** Vai, surf board · **What happens:** extricate, balance, be, dash, see, begin · **To what, where:** Vai, land, body, front 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 (Vai, surf board), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg66357:7:147 # text = Vai-ta-piha easily extricated himself, and balanced upon his surf board was about to dash to land, but he saw in front of his board the body of an insensible chief roll from between two boards and begin to sink. 1 Vai Vai PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 2 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 1 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 3 ta ta NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 4 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 piha piha NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 appos _ _ 6 easily easily ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 7 extricated extricate VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 7 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 balanced balance VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 12 upon upon SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 13 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 14 surf surf NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 compound _ _ 15 board board NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 16 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 17 about about ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 ccomp _ _ 18 to to PART TO _ 19 mark _ _ 19 dash dash VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 xcomp _ _ 20 to to ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 23 but but CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 26 in in ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 front front NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 board board NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ _ 33 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 34 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 35 insensible insensible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 36 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 compound _ _ 37 roll roll NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nmod _ _ 38 from from ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 between between ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 41 nummod _ _ 41 boards board NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 nmod _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 43 begin begin VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|Typo=Yes|VerbForm=Fin 25 conj _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 sink sink VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 43 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **extricate** | past | Vai | Vai | | | | easily *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **balance** | past | Vai *not said here* | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **is** | past | Vai's surf board | | | | | about *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **dash** | to-infinitive | Vai's surf board *not said here* | | | land | | | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to land=Destination | | 5 | **see** | past | Vai | the body of a insensible chief roll from two boards | | front of Vai's board | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer body=Stimulus | | 6 | **begin** | present | Vai *not said here* | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 7 | **sink** | to-infinitive | Vai *not said here* | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 146](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/7/146/) - next →: [sentence 148](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/7/148/) - ↑ back to [The Sons of Kii](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/7/)