---
title: The dragons became angry and thrashed the water into whirlpools, try… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: The dragons became angry and thrashed the water into whirlpools, trying to catch the travellers and pull them into the river. 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 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The dragons became angry and thrashed the water into whirlpools, trying to catch the travellers and pull them into the river.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** dragons · **What happens:** become, thrash, try, catch, pull · **To what, where:** water, whirlpools, travellers, dragons, river

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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:pg66516:20:14
# text = The dragons became angry and thrashed the water into whirlpools, trying to catch the travellers and pull them into the river.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	thrashed	thrash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	whirlpools	whirlpool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	travellers	traveller	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	pull	pull	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	into	into	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past | the dragons |  |  |  |  | angry *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **thrash** | past | the dragons *not said here* | the water |  |  |  | into whirlpools *result* | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent water=Patient into whirlpool=Result |
| 3 | **try** | gerund | the dragons *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **catch** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the dragons *not said here* | the travellers |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent traveller=Theme |
| 5 | **pull** | present | the dragons *not said here* | dragons *= dragon* |  | the river |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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