---
title: They were preceded by a very large war canoe with a prow shaped into… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: They were preceded by a very large war canoe with a prow shaped into a rude resemblance of a shark’s head, with shark’s teeth fastened in the open jaws. Who acts: teeth. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, The Sons of Kii, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, The Sons of Kii, sentence 72

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They were preceded by a very large war canoe with a prow shaped into a rude resemblance of a shark’s head, with shark’s teeth fastened in the open jaws.

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**Who acts:** teeth · **What happens:** precede, shape, fasten · **To what, where:** shadows, prow, rude resemblance, open jaws

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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 (teeth), 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:pg66357:7:72
# text = They were preceded by a very large war canoe with a prow shaped into a rude resemblance of a shark’s head, with shark’s teeth fastened in the open jaws.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	preceded	precede	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	prow	prow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	shaped	shape	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
14	into	into	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	resemblance	resemblance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’s	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	’s	's	PART	POS	_	25	case	_	_
27	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
28	fastened	fasten	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	jaws	jaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **precede** | past · passive |  | shadows *= shadow* |  |  |  | by a large war canoe with a prow | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **shape** | participle |  | a prow *not said here* |  | a rude resemblance of a shark's head |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent into resemblance=Product |
| 3 | **fasten** | past | shark's teeth |  |  | the open jaws |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

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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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