--- title: "The tricks of my own daughter are the hardest things that ever met… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: "The tricks of my own daughter are the hardest things that ever met me," says the giant; "but if I had my lever and my mighty mattock, I would not be long in making my way through this rock also." Who acts: tricks, I, mighty mattock. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Battle of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/31/217/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Celtic Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/) / [The Battle of the Birds](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/31/) / 217 # Celtic Fairy Tales, The Battle of the Birds, sentence 217 "The tricks of my own daughter are the hardest things that ever met me," says the giant; "but if I had my lever and my mighty mattock, I would not be long in making my way through this rock also." **Who acts:** tricks, I, mighty mattock · **What happens:** be, meet, say, have, not be, make · **To what, where:** hardest things, giant, lever, way, rock, own daughter · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Battle of the Birds. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tricks, I, mighty mattock), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg7885:31:217 # text = "The tricks of my own daughter are the hardest things that ever met me," says the giant; "but if I had my lever and my mighty mattock, I would not be long in making my way through this rock also." 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 tricks trick NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 nsubj _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 6 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 daughter daughter NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nmod _ _ 8 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 11 cop _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 hardest hard ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 11 amod _ _ 11 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 ccomp _ _ 12 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 14 obj _ _ 13 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 14 advmod _ _ 14 met meet VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 acl:relcl _ _ 15 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 14 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 " " PUNCT '' _ 18 punct _ _ 18 says say VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 giant giant ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 22 " " PUNCT `` _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 23 but but CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 24 if if SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 25 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 parataxis _ _ 27 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 lever lever NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 30 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 32 nmod:poss _ _ 31 mighty mighty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 mattock mattock NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 34 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 35 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 36 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 38 advmod _ _ 37 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 38 cop _ _ 38 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 conj _ _ 39 in in SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 40 making make VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 38 advcl _ _ 41 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 42 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 43 through through ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 45 det _ _ 45 rock rock NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ _ 46 also also ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 " " PUNCT '' _ 18 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | the tricks of my own daughter | the hardest things | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **meet** *in a quote* | past | | the hardest things | | | ever | | tree rules | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | | the giant | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | I | my lever | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lever=Patient | | 5 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | would | my mighty mattock | | | | | long *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **make** *in a quote* | gerund | my mighty mattock *not said here* | my way | | this rock | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset way=Product | | 7 | **trick** *in a quote* | | | my own daughter | | | | | nom trick «act transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 216](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/31/216/) - next →: [sentence 218](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/31/218/) - ↑ back to [The Battle of the Birds](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/31/)