---
title: They measured time not by the years but by the lives of men; not by… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: They measured time not by the years but by the lives of men; not by the days passed, but by the deeds done. Who acts: Hawaiians. 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 4

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They measured time not by the years but by the lives of men; not by the days passed, but by the deeds done.

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**Who acts:** Hawaiians · **What happens:** not measure, not pass, do · **To what, where:** deeds

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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 (Hawaiians), 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:pg66357:8:4
# text = They measured time not by the years but by the lives of men; not by the days passed, but by the deeds done.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	measured	measure	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
19	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	deeds	deed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	parataxis	_	_
25	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **measure** | past | Hawaiians *= hawaiian* |  |  |  | time; year |  | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **pass** | past |  |  |  |  | day | the deeds *parataxis* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **do** | participle |  | the deeds *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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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