---
title: Her father at last had decided that the only way to keep her suitors… — Hawaiian Historical Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: Her father at last had decided that the only way to keep her suitors from always living at his cost was to have a contest. Who acts: father, only way, way. A sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Moi-keha, the Restless, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# Hawaiian Historical Legends, Moi-keha, the Restless, sentence 72

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Her father at last had decided that the only way to keep her suitors from always living at his cost was to have a contest.

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**Who acts:** father, only way, way · **What happens:** decide, keep, live, have, cost · **To what, where:** suitors, cost, contest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt, Moi-keha, the Restless. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, only way, way), 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:pg66357:9:72
# text = Her father at last had decided that the only way to keep her suitors from always living at his cost was to have a contest.
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nmod	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	decided	decide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	acl	_	_
13	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	suitors	suitor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	17	advmod	_	_
17	living	live	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	cost	cost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	contest	contest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decide** | past · perfect | Puna's father at last |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **keep** | to-infinitive | the only way *not said here* | Puna's suitors |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent suitor=Theme |
| 3 | **live** | gerund | the only way *not said here* |  |  | way's cost |  | always *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at cost=Location |
| 4 | **have** *not said to happen* | past | the only way | a contest |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent contest=Patient |
| 5 | **cost** |  | way |  |  |  |  |  | nom cost «possession transitive»: poss=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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