---
title: Every time it put a front leg forward it shivered all over the rest… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Every time it put a front leg forward it shivered all over the rest of its legs backwards, and when it put a hind leg forward it shivered all over the rest of its legs frontwards, and it used to give a great whistle through its nose when it was out of breath, and a big, thin hen was sitting on its c
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XIX, sentence 16

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Every time it put a front leg forward it shivered all over the rest of its legs backwards, and when it put a hind leg forward it shivered all over the rest of its legs frontwards, and it used to give a great whistle through its nose when it was out of breath, and a big, thin hen was sitting on its croup.

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**Who acts:** old, big thin hen · **What happens:** put, shiver, use, give, be, sit · **To what, where:** front leg, rest, hind leg, great whistle, nose, breath

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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 (old, big thin hen), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg2892:90:16
# text = Every time it put a front leg forward it shivered all over the rest of its legs backwards, and when it put a hind leg forward it shivered all over the rest of its legs frontwards, and it used to give a great whistle through its nose when it was out of breath, and a big, thin hen was sitting on its croup.
1	Every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	front	front	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	shivered	shiver	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	all	all	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	over	over	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
18	backwards	backwards	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
21	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	hind	hind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	shivered	shiver	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
30	all	all	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
31	over	over	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	compound	_	_
37	frontwards	frontward	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	xcomp	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	whistle	whistle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
47	through	through	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
50	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	55	advmod	_	_
51	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
52	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	cop	_	_
53	out	out	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
59	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
61	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	hen	hen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nsubj	_	_
63	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
64	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	41	advcl	_	_
65	on	on	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	67	nmod:poss	_	_
67	croup	croup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | past | old | a front leg |  |  |  | forward *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent leg=Goal |
| 2 | **shiver** | past | old | the rest of old's legs |  |  | time | backwards *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **put** | past | old | a hind leg |  |  |  | forward *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent leg=Goal |
| 4 | **shiver** | past | old | the rest of legs frontwards |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **use** | past | old |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **give** | to-infinitive | old *not said here* | a great whistle |  | old's nose |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whistle=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | past | old |  |  | breath |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **sit** | past · progressive | a big thin hen |  |  | old's croup |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on croup=Location |

<!-- .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 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/90/15/)
- next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/90/17/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter XIX](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/90/)