---
title: Every few steps it used to sit down on its hunkers and point its nos… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Every few steps it used to sit down on its hunkers and point its nose straight upwards, and make a long, sad complaint about its tooth; and after that it used to reach its hind leg round and try to scratch out its tooth; and then it used to be pulled on again by the straw rope that was round its nec
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XIX, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Every few steps it used to sit down on its hunkers and point its nose straight upwards, and make a long, sad complaint about its tooth; and after that it used to reach its hind leg round and try to scratch out its tooth; and then it used to be pulled on again by the straw rope that was round its neck, and which was tied at the other end to the hag’s heaviest foot.

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**Who acts:** few steps, dog, straw rope · **What happens:** use, sit down, point, make, reach, try · **To what, where:** hunkers, nose, long sad complaint, hind leg, tooth, other end

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XIX. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (few steps, dog, straw rope), 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:pg2892:90:14
# text = Every few steps it used to sit down on its hunkers and point its nose straight upwards, and make a long, sad complaint about its tooth; and after that it used to reach its hind leg round and try to scratch out its tooth; and then it used to be pulled on again by the straw rope that was round its neck, and which was tied at the other end to the hag’s heaviest foot.
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	det	_	_
2	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	down	down	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	hunkers	hunker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	point	point	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	straight	straight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
17	upwards	upwards	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
22	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
24	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	complaint	complaint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
26	about	about	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
31	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
38	hind	hind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
40	round	round	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	scratch	scratch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	xcomp	_	_
45	out	out	ADP	RP	_	44	compound:prt	_	_
46	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	52	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
50	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	52	advmod	_	_
51	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	55	mark	_	_
54	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	aux:pass	_	_
55	pulled	pull	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	52	xcomp	_	_
56	on	on	ADP	RP	_	55	compound:prt	_	_
57	again	again	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
58	by	by	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
60	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	compound	_	_
61	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	_
62	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	66	nsubj	_	_
63	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	66	cop	_	_
64	round	round	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
65	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	66	nmod:poss	_	_
66	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	71	punct	_	_
68	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	71	cc	_	_
69	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	71	nsubj:pass	_	_
70	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	71	aux:pass	_	_
71	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	52	conj	_	_
72	at	at	ADP	IN	_	75	case	_	_
73	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	75	det	_	_
74	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	75	amod	_	_
75	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	71	obl	_	_
76	to	to	ADP	IN	_	81	case	_	_
77	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	78	det	_	_
78	hag	hag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	81	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	’s	's	PART	POS	_	78	case	_	_
80	heaviest	heavy	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	81	amod	_	_
81	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	75	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
82	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | every few steps |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **sit down** | to-infinitive | every few steps *not said here* |  |  | dog's hunkers |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on hunker=Location |
| 3 | **point** | infinitive | every few steps *not said here* | dog's nose |  |  |  | straight, upwards *property* | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nose=Patient |
| 4 | **make** | infinitive | every few steps *not said here* | a long sad complaint |  |  |  | about dog's tooth | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset complaint=Product |
| 5 | **use** | past | dog |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **reach** | to-infinitive | dog *not said here* | dog's hind leg |  |  |  | round *property* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent leg=Theme |
| 7 | **try** | infinitive | dog *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **scratch out** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | dog *not said here* | dog's tooth |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tooth=Theme |
| 9 | **use** | past | dog |  |  |  | then |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 10 | **pull on** | to-infinitive · passive | the straw rope |  |  |  | again |  | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **is** | past | the straw rope |  |  |  |  | round dog's neck | tree rules |
| 12 | **tie** | past · passive |  |  |  |  | at the other end to the hag's heaviest foot |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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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- ← previous: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/90/13/)
- next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/90/15/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter XIX](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/90/)