---
title: The ohia roots seem to find food and drink, where the numerous crack… — Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology) · tree and pragmatics
description: The ohia roots seem to find food and drink, where the numerous cracks of a lava field open in every direction, and vie with the tree ferns in making life take the place of the desolation caused by the volcanic floods. Who acts: ohia roots, life. A sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mytholog
---

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# Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Pele’s Tree, sentence 7

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The ohia roots seem to find food and drink, where the numerous cracks of a lava field open in every direction, and vie with the tree ferns in making life take the place of the desolation caused by the volcanic floods.

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**Who acts:** ohia roots, life · **What happens:** seem, find, vie, make, take, cause · **To what, where:** food, life, place, desolation

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This is a sentence of «Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology)» by W. D. Westervelt, Pele’s Tree. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ohia roots, life), 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:pg66516:9:7
# text = The ohia roots seem to find food and drink, where the numerous cracks of a lava field open in every direction, and vie with the tree ferns in making life take the place of the desolation caused by the volcanic floods.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	ohia	ohia	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	seem	seem	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	drink	drink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
11	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	19	advmod	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	numerous	numerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	cracks	crack	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	lava	lava	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
19	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	advcl	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	22	det	_	_
22	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	vie	vie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	ferns	fern	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
30	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
31	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
32	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
33	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	desolation	desolation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
39	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	acl	_	_
40	by	by	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	volcanic	volcanic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	floods	flood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | present | the ohia roots |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **find** | to-infinitive | the ohia roots *not said here* | food and drink |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Topic |
| 3 | **vie** | infinitive | the ohia roots *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the tree ferns | vn battle-36.4 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with fern=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **make** | gerund | the ohia roots *not said here* | life |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **take** | infinitive | life *not said here* | the place of the desolation |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Theme |
| 6 | **cause** | participle |  | the desolation *not said here* |  |  |  | the volcanic floods *obl:agent* | vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition |

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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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