---
title: They were always ready to destroy and often devour any strangers pas… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: They were always ready to destroy and often devour any strangers passing near them. Who acts: monsters, strangers. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Hiiaka and the Seacoast Kupuas, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Hiiaka and the Seacoast Kupuas, sentence 4

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They were always ready to destroy and often devour any strangers passing near them.

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**Who acts:** monsters, strangers · **What happens:** be, destroy, devour, pass · **To what, where:** strangers

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Hiiaka and the Seacoast Kupuas. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (monsters, strangers), 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:pg66516:19:4
# text = They were always ready to destroy and often devour any strangers passing near them.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	often	often	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	devour	devour	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
10	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	strangers	stranger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	acl	_	_
13	near	near	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | monsters *= monster* |  |  |  |  | always, ready *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **destroy** | to-infinitive | monsters *= monster* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **devour** | infinitive | monsters *= monster* *not said here* | any strangers |  |  |  | often *property* | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stranger=Patient |
| 4 | **pass** | gerund | any strangers *not said here* |  |  |  |  | near monsters *= monster* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme near they=Location |

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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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