---
title: Before the intervention of the Whitney trustees, it had been the des… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: Before the intervention of the Whitney trustees, it had been the desire of the Institute to secure a volcanic site in order to observe the local activities of a particular volcano, as well as the waves which pass through the earth from distant earthquakes. Who acts: intervention, waves, Whitney trus
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Foundation of the Observatory, sentence 7

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Before the intervention of the Whitney trustees, it had been the desire of the Institute to secure a volcanic site in order to observe the local activities of a particular volcano, as well as the waves which pass through the earth from distant earthquakes.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** intervention, waves, Whitney trustees · **What happens:** be, secure, observe, pass, intervene · **To what, where:** desire, volcanic site, order, local activities, earth

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Foundation of the Observatory. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (intervention, waves, Whitney trustees), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66516:29:7
# text = Before the intervention of the Whitney trustees, it had been the desire of the Institute to secure a volcanic site in order to observe the local activities of a particular volcano, as well as the waves which pass through the earth from distant earthquakes.
1	Before	before	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	intervention	intervention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	Whitney	Whitney	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	trustees	trustee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
11	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	cop	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	desire	desire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Institute	institute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	secure	secure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	acl	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	site	site	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	observe	observe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	advcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	local	local	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	activities	activity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	particular	particular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	volcano	volcano	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	38	cc	_	_
35	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	34	fixed	_	_
36	as	as	ADP	IN	_	34	fixed	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
39	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
40	pass	pass	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	acl:relcl	_	_
41	through	through	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
44	from	from	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	distant	distant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	earthquakes	earthquake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past · perfect | intervention | the desire |  |  | before the intervention of the Whitney trustees | of the Institute | tree rules |
| 2 | **secure** | to-infinitive |  | a volcanic site |  | order |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition site=Theme |
| 3 | **observe** | to-infinitive |  | the local activities of a particular volcano |  |  |  | the waves *obl* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent activity=Topic |
| 4 | **pass** | present | the waves |  |  | the earth |  | from distant earthquakes | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme through earth=Initial\_Location from earthquake=Destination |
| 5 | **intervene** |  | the Whitney trustees |  |  |  |  |  | nom intervention «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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