---
title: At first 't was mighty fine for Tom; he'd nought to do and good pay… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: At first 't was mighty fine for Tom; he'd nought to do and good pay for it; but by-and-by things began to grow vicey-varsy. Who acts: t. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 3, sentence 87

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At first 't was mighty fine for Tom; he'd nought to do and good pay for it; but by-and-by things began to grow vicey-varsy.

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**Who acts:** t · **What happens:** be, do, begin, grow · **To what, where:** vicey varsy

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, 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 (t), 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:pg14241:17:87
# text = At first 't was mighty fine for Tom; he'd nought to do and good pay for it; but by-and-by things began to grow vicey-varsy.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	7	obl	_	_
3	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	t	t	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	'd	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
13	nought	nought	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	12	obj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	pay	pay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
29	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	vicey	vicey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	varsy	varsy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | t |  |  |  |  | for Tom; fine *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | t *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for t | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **begin** | past |  |  |  |  |  | by things | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **grow** | to-infinitive |  | vicey varsy |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location varsy=Theme |

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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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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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