---
title: Just then we could be hearing the footsteps of the giant, 'What shal… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Just then we could be hearing the footsteps of the giant, 'What shall I do? what shall I do?' cried the woman. Who acts: we, I. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Conall Yellowclaw, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, sentence 176

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Just then we could be hearing the footsteps of the giant, 'What shall I do? what shall I do?' cried the woman.

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**Who acts:** we, I · **What happens:** hear, do, cry · **To what, where:** footsteps, woman

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Conall Yellowclaw. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, I), 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:pg7885:9:176
# text = Just then we could be hearing the footsteps of the giant, 'What shall I do? what shall I do?' cried the woman.
1	Just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
3	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux	_	_
6	hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	footsteps	footstep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	obj	_	_
15	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
19	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	22	obj	_	_
20	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
25	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | could · progressive | we | the footsteps of the giant |  |  | then |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer footstep=Stimulus |
| 2 | **do** | shall | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **do** | shall | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 4 | **cry** *speech: express* | past |  | the woman |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woman=Topic |

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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:** «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7885 (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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