---
title: The dragons leaped down on Hiiaka, trying to catch her in their mout… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: The dragons leaped down on Hiiaka, trying to catch her in their mouths and strike her with their tails. Who acts: dragons. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Pili and Noho, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Pili and Noho, sentence 116

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The dragons leaped down on Hiiaka, trying to catch her in their mouths and strike her with their tails.

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**Who acts:** dragons · **What happens:** leap down, try, catch, strike · **To what, where:** dragons, Hiiaka, mouths

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Pili and Noho. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dragons), 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:pg66516:20:116
# text = The dragons leaped down on Hiiaka, trying to catch her in their mouths and strike her with their tails.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
3	leaped	leap	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	down	down	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Hiiaka	Hiiaka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	mouths	mouth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	strike	strike	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
17	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leap down** | participle |  | the dragons *not said here* |  | Hiiaka |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on hiiaka=Trajectory |
| 2 | **try** | gerund | the dragons |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **catch** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the dragons *not said here* | Hiiaka |  | dragons's mouths |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 4 | **strike** | infinitive | the dragons *not said here* | Hiiaka |  |  |  | with dragons's tails | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent she=Patient with tail=Instrument |

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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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