---
title: If you are on a steep, slippery slope and reach out for a hand-grip,… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: If you are on a steep, slippery slope and reach out for a hand-grip, as likely as not instead of a friendly flax or tussock bunch the _ongaonga_ will be there waiting for you with his devilish little stinging hairs. Who acts: you. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Ze
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 40

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If you are on a steep, slippery slope and reach out for a hand-grip, as likely as not instead of a friendly flax or tussock bunch the \_ongaonga\_ will be there waiting for you with his devilish little stinging hairs.

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**Who acts:** you · **What happens:** be, reach out, wait, sting · **To what, where:** steep slippery slope

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you), 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:pg73766:11:40
# text = If you are on a steep, slippery slope and reach out for a hand-grip, as likely as not instead of a friendly flax or tussock bunch the _ongaonga_ will be there waiting for you with his devilish little stinging hairs.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	steep	steep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	slippery	slippery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	slope	slope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	grip	grip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	as	as	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	obl	_	_
23	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	27	case	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	fixed	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	friendly	friendly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
28	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	tussock	tussock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	bunch	bunch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	ongaonga	ongaonga	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	37	punct	_	_
35	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	cop	_	_
37	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
38	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	37	advcl	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	38	obl	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
43	devilish	devilish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
44	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
45	stinging	sting	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	46	amod	_	_
46	hairs	hair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | you |  |  | a steep slippery slope |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **reach out** | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for a hand grip instead a friendly flax or tussock bunch and the ongaonga | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | future |  |  |  |  |  | there *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **wait** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for you; with detour's devilish little stinging hairs | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **sting** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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:** «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Project Gutenberg book 73766 (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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