---
title: As they approached the dignified high chiefs they all prostrated the… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: As they approached the dignified high chiefs they all prostrated themselves to the ground except Okela and Taunoa. Who acts: crowds. 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 38

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As they approached the dignified high chiefs they all prostrated themselves to the ground except Okela and Taunoa.

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**Who acts:** crowds · **What happens:** approach, dignify, prostrate · **To what, where:** dignified high chiefs, crowds

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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 (crowds), 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:pg66357:7:38
# text = As they approached the dignified high chiefs they all prostrated themselves to the ground except Okela and Taunoa.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	dignified	dignify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
6	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	chiefs	chief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	advmod	_	_
10	prostrated	prostrate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
15	except	except	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Okela	Okela	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	Taunoa	Taunoa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **approach** | past | crowds *= crowd* | the dignified high chiefs |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chief=Theme |
| 2 | **dignify** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **prostrate** | past | crowds *= crowd* | crowds *= crowd* |  |  |  | to the ground except Okela and Taunoa | tree rules |

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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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