---
title: ‘My daughter’s tricks are the hardest things that ever met me,’ said… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘My daughter’s tricks are the hardest things that ever met me,’ said the giant, ‘but if I had my lever and my crowbar, I would not be long in making my way through this rock also,’ but as he had got them, he had to go home and fetch them. Who acts: tricks, hardest things, I, crowbar. A sentence of «
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 62

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘My daughter’s tricks are the hardest things that ever met me,’ said the giant, ‘but if I had my lever and my crowbar, I would not be long in making my way through this rock also,’ but as he had got them, he had to go home and fetch them.

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**Who acts:** tricks, hardest things, I, crowbar, son, daughter · **What happens:** be, meet, say, have, not be, make · **To what, where:** hardest things, giant, lever, way, rock, things · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tricks, hardest things, I, crowbar), 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:pg3454:29:62
# text = ‘My daughter’s tricks are the hardest things that ever met me,’ said the giant, ‘but if I had my lever and my crowbar, I would not be long in making my way through this rock also,’ but as he had got them, he had to go home and fetch them.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’s	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	tricks	trick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	hardest	hard	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	amod	_	_
9	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obj	_	_
11	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	12	advmod	_	_
12	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	lever	lever	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
28	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	crowbar	crowbar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
31	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
34	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	cop	_	_
35	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	_
36	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
37	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	advcl	_	_
38	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	through	through	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	42	det	_	_
42	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
43	also	also	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	37	xcomp	_	_
46	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
47	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
49	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
50	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	54	advcl	_	_
51	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
53	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
54	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	conj	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
56	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	54	xcomp	_	_
57	home	home	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
59	fetch	fetch	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	56	conj	_	_
60	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | My daughter's tricks | the hardest things |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **meet** | past |  | the hardest things |  |  | ever |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the hardest things | the giant |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent giant=Topic |
| 4 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | I | my lever |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lever=Patient |
| 5 | **not** **is** | would | my crowbar |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **make** | gerund | my crowbar *not said here* | my way |  | this rock |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset way=Product |
| 7 | **get** | past · perfect | son | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 8 | **have** | past | son |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **go** | to-infinitive | son *not said here* |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **fetch** | infinitive | son *not said here* | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 11 | **trick** |  | My daughter |  |  |  |  |  | nom trick «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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