---
title: The hardest tasks were always given to her, and long before the two… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The hardest tasks were always given to her, and long before the two years were up, she would be worn out and useless. Who acts: two years. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 3, sentence 50

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The hardest tasks were always given to her, and long before the two years were up, she would be worn out and useless.

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**Who acts:** two years · **What happens:** give, be up, wear out · **To what, where:** hardest tasks, princess

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two years), 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:pg641:40:50
# text = The hardest tasks were always given to her, and long before the two years were up, she would be worn out and useless.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	hardest	hard	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	amod	_	_
3	tasks	task	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
6	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
12	before	before	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
16	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl	_	_
17	up	up	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
23	out	out	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past · passive |  | the hardest tasks | princess |  |  | always, long *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to she=Recipient |
| 2 | **be up** | past | the two years *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **wear out** | would · passive |  | princess |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: subject=Source |

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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:** «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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