---
title: “Nevertheless the gods aid the man who crosses the channel in a cano… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: “Nevertheless the gods aid the man who crosses the channel in a canoe a little more than the man who tries to cross by swimming. Who acts: gods, man. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Paao From Samoa, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Paao From Samoa, sentence 190

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“Nevertheless the gods aid the man who crosses the channel in a canoe a little more than the man who tries to cross by swimming.

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**Who acts:** gods, man · **What happens:** aid, cross, try, swim · **To what, where:** man, channel

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Paao From Samoa. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (gods, man), 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:pg66357:8:190
# text = “Nevertheless the gods aid the man who crosses the channel in a canoe a little more than the man who tries to cross by swimming.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Nevertheless	nevertheless	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	aid	aid	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	crosses	cross	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	channel	channel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	obl:unmarked	_	_
17	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	14	amod	_	_
18	than	than	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
22	tries	try	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
26	swimming	swim	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **aid** *in a quote* | present | the gods |  | the man |  |  | nevertheless *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **cross** *in a quote* | present | the man | the channel |  |  |  | in a canoe | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent channel=Patient in canoe=Topic |
| 3 | **try** *in a quote* | present | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **cross** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | the man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **swim** *in a quote* | gerund | the man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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