---
title: About 1790, thousands of tons of gravel and boulders and dust were s… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: About 1790, thousands of tons of gravel and boulders and dust were strewn over Hawaii from Kilauea, covering hundreds of square miles, destroying the vegetation, and killing some of the people. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Opening, with its dependenc
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Opening, sentence 24

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About 1790, thousands of tons of gravel and boulders and dust were strewn over Hawaii from Kilauea, covering hundreds of square miles, destroying the vegetation, and killing some of the people.

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**What happens:** strewn, cover, destroy, kill · **To what, where:** thousands, Hawaii, hundreds, vegetation, some

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg66516:1:24
# text = About 1790, thousands of tons of gravel and boulders and dust were strewn over Hawaii from Kilauea, covering hundreds of square miles, destroying the vegetation, and killing some of the people.
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	1790	1790	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	tons	ton	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	gravel	gravel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	boulders	boulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	strewn	strewn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
15	over	over	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Hawaii	Hawaii	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
17	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Kilauea	Kilauea	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	covering	cover	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
21	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	square	square	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	miles	mile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	destroying	destroy	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	conj	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	vegetation	vegetation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	killing	kill	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	conj	_	_
32	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strewn** | past · passive |  | thousands of tons of gravel and boulders and dust |  | Hawaii |  | from Kilauea; 1790 *obl* | tree rules |
| 2 | **cover** | gerund |  | hundreds of square miles |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme hundred=Destination |
| 3 | **destroy** | gerund |  | the vegetation |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vegetation=Patient |
| 4 | **kill** | gerund |  | some of the people |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent some=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 Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Project Gutenberg book 66516 (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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