Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (mythology), Foundation of the Observatory, sentence 7
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 trustees · What happens: be, secure, observe, pass, intervene · To what, where: desire, volcanic site, order, local activities, earth
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.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Before | before | ADP | _ | 3 intervention | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 intervention | det |
| 3 | intervention | intervention | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 desire | obl |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 trustees | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 trustees | det |
| 6 | Whitney | Whitney | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 trustees | compound |
| 7 | trustees | trustee | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 intervention | nmod |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 intervention | punct |
| 9 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 desire | nsubj |
| 10 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 desire | aux |
| 11 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 13 desire | cop |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 desire | det |
| 13 | desire | desire | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 Institute | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 Institute | det |
| 16 | Institute | institute | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 desire | nmod |
| 17 | to | to | PART | _ | 18 secure | mark |
| 18 | secure | secure | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 desire | acl |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 21 site | det |
| 20 | volcanic | volcanic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 site | amod |
| 21 | site | site | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 secure | obj |
| 22 | in | in | ADP | _ | 23 order | case |
| 23 | order | order | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 secure | obl |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 observe | mark |
| 25 | observe | observe | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 secure | advcl |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 activities | det |
| 27 | local | local | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 activities | amod |
| 28 | activities | activity | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 observe | obj |
| 29 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 volcano | case |
| 30 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 32 volcano | det |
| 31 | particular | particular | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 volcano | amod |
| 32 | volcano | volcano | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 activities | nmod |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 waves | punct |
| 34 | as | as | ADV | ExtPos=CCONJ | 38 waves | cc |
| 35 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 34 as | fixed |
| 36 | as | as | ADP | _ | 34 as | fixed |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 waves | det |
| 38 | waves | wave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 observe | obl |
| 39 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 40 pass | nsubj |
| 40 | pass | pass | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 38 waves | acl:relcl |
| 41 | through | through | ADP | _ | 43 earth | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 earth | det |
| 43 | earth | earth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 pass | obl |
| 44 | from | from | ADP | _ | 46 earthquakes | case |
| 45 | distant | distant | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 46 earthquakes | amod |
| 46 | earthquakes | earthquake | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 pass | obl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 13 desire | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | 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 |
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.
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66516/29/7/