---
title: His long spear was lowered in his fist at the thrust, and his sharp… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: His long spear was lowered in his fist at the thrust, and his sharp knife was in its sheath, but he did not use them, for the fawn and the two hounds began to play round him, and the fawn was as affectionate towards him as the hounds were; so that when a velvet nose was thrust in his palm, it was as
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter I, sentence 39

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His long spear was lowered in his fist at the thrust, and his sharp knife was in its sheath, but he did not use them, for the fawn and the two hounds began to play round him, and the fawn was as affectionate towards him as the hounds were; so that when a velvet nose was thrust in his palm, it was as often a fawn’s muzzle as a hound’s.

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**Who acts:** sharp knife, Fionn, fawn, velvet nose, spear · **What happens:** lower, be, not use, begin, play · **To what, where:** long spear, fist, sheath, thrust, palm, muzzle

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter I. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sharp knife, Fionn, fawn, velvet nose), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg2892:33:39
# text = His long spear was lowered in his fist at the thrust, and his sharp knife was in its sheath, but he did not use them, for the fawn and the two hounds began to play round him, and the fawn was as affectionate towards him as the hounds were; so that when a velvet nose was thrust in his palm, it was as often a fawn’s muzzle as a hound’s.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	lowered	lower	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	fist	fist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	thrust	thrust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	sheath	sheath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	fawn	fawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
35	hounds	hound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	conj	_	_
36	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	parataxis	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	_
39	round	round	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	fawn	fawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
45	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
46	as	as	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	affectionate	affectionate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
48	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obl	_	_
50	as	as	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	hounds	hound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	_
53	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	62	punct	_	_
55	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	62	mark	_	_
56	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	55	fixed	_	_
57	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	62	advmod	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
59	velvet	velvet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	compound	_	_
60	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nsubj	_	_
61	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	62	cop	_	_
62	thrust	thrust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	parataxis	_	_
63	in	in	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	65	nmod:poss	_	_
65	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	74	punct	_	_
67	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	74	nsubj	_	_
68	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	74	cop	_	_
69	as	as	ADV	RB	_	70	advmod	_	_
70	often	often	ADV	RB	_	74	advmod	_	_
71	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	72	det	_	_
72	fawn	fawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	’s	's	PART	POS	_	72	case	_	_
74	muzzle	muzzle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	conj	_	_
75	as	as	ADP	IN	_	77	case	_	_
76	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	77	det	_	_
77	hound	hound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
78	’s	's	PART	POS	_	77	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lower** | past · passive |  | Fionn's long spear |  | Fionn's fist at the thrust and knife's sheath |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in fist=Destination |
| 2 | **is** | past | Fionn's sharp knife |  |  | knife's sheath |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **use** | past · do-support | Fionn | fist |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 4 | **begin** | past | the fawn and the two hounds |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **play** | to-infinitive | the fawn and the two hounds *not said here* |  |  |  |  | round Fionn | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past | the fawn |  |  |  |  | towards Fionn; as the hounds; affectionate *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is a** | past | a velvet nose | thrust and a fawn's muzzle |  | Fionn's palm |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **is a** | past | spear | a fawn's muzzle |  |  |  | as a hound; often *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Project Gutenberg book 2892 (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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