---
title: ‘Let that be no hindrance,’ answered Maurice; ‘my mouth just holds a… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Let that be no hindrance,’ answered Maurice; ‘my mouth just holds a glass to the drop; often I’ve tried it sure.’ Who acts: you, that, mouth, I. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘Let that be no hindrance,’ answered Maurice; ‘my mouth just holds a glass to the drop; often I’ve tried it sure.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, that, mouth, I · **What happens:** let, be, answer, hold, have, try · **To what, where:** hindrance, Maurice, glass

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, that, mouth, 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:pg3454:18:23
# text = ‘Let that be no hindrance,’ answered Maurice; ‘my mouth just holds a glass to the drop; often I’ve tried it sure.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	hindrance	hindrance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
9	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
10	Maurice	Maurice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
12	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
15	just	just	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	drop	drop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	often	often	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	’ve	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
26	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	ccomp	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | infinitive | that | no hindrance |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | Maurice |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent maurice=Eventuality |
| 4 | **hold** | present | my mouth | a glass |  |  |  | to the drop | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent glass=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | present | I |  |  |  |  | often *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **try** | past | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | 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:** «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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