---
title: He coiled and twisted and swiftly whirled about, trying to knock her… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: He coiled and twisted and swiftly whirled about, trying to knock her down, but she beat him with her powerful hands in which dwelt some of the divine power of volcanoes. Who acts: LAU, Hiiaka, powerful hands. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Pili and Noh
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Pili and Noho, sentence 41

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He coiled and twisted and swiftly whirled about, trying to knock her down, but she beat him with her powerful hands in which dwelt some of the divine power of volcanoes.

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**Who acts:** LAU, Hiiaka, powerful hands · **What happens:** coil, twist, whirl, try, knock down, beat · **To what, where:** Hiiaka, LAU, some

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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 (LAU, Hiiaka, powerful hands), 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:pg66516:20:41
# text = He coiled and twisted and swiftly whirled about, trying to knock her down, but she beat him with her powerful hands in which dwelt some of the divine power of volcanoes.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	coiled	coil	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	twisted	twist	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	swiftly	swiftly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	whirled	whirl	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
8	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	knock	knock	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	down	down	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	beat	beat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
26	dwelt	dwell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	26	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	divine	divine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	volcanoes	volcano	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **coil** | past | LAU |  |  |  |  |  | vn coil-9.6-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **twist** | past | LAU *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **whirl** | participle | LAU *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about, swiftly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **try** | gerund | LAU *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **knock down** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | LAU *not said here* | Hiiaka |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 6 | **beat** | past | Hiiaka | LAU |  |  |  | with Hiiaka's powerful hands | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Patient with hand=Instrument |
| 7 | **dwell** | past | Hiiaka's powerful hands | some of the divine power of volcanoes |  |  |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme some=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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