---
title: He chanted the charms which would control the action of the gods of… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: He chanted the charms which would control the action of the gods of the seas over which the boats might sail. Who acts: prisoner, charms, boats, gods. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Sons of Kii, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Sons of Kii, sentence 22

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He chanted the charms which would control the action of the gods of the seas over which the boats might sail.

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**Who acts:** prisoner, charms, boats, gods · **What happens:** chant, control, sail, act · **To what, where:** charms, action, seas

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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 (prisoner, charms, boats, gods), 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:pg66357:7:22
# text = He chanted the charms which would control the action of the gods of the seas over which the boats might sail.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	chanted	chant	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	charms	charm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	control	control	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	seas	sea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
16	over	over	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	boats	boat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
20	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	sail	sail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chant** | past | prisoner | the charms |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent charm=Topic |
| 2 | **control** | would | the charms | the action of the gods of the seas |  |  |  |  | vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent action=Theme |
| 3 | **sail** | might | the boats |  |  | the seas |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over which=Trajectory |
| 4 | **act** |  | the gods of the seas |  |  |  |  |  | nom action «act intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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