---
title: Fishnets are so tossed about that it is almost impossible to retain… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: Fishnets are so tossed about that it is almost impossible to retain any fish in them. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Volcanic Activity, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Volcanic Activity, sentence 139

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Fishnets are so tossed about that it is almost impossible to retain any fish in them.

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**What happens:** toss, be, retain · **To what, where:** Fishnets, fish

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Volcanic Activity. 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:pg66516:27:139
# text = Fishnets are so tossed about that it is almost impossible to retain any fish in them.
1	Fishnets	fishnet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	tossed	toss	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	expl	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	retain	retain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	csubj	_	_
13	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	14	det	_	_
14	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **toss** | present · passive |  | Fishnets |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | almost, impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **retain** | to-infinitive |  | any fish |  |  |  | in Fishnets *= fishnet* | tree rules |

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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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