---
title: I am doubtful as to my success in catching the colloquial-romantic t… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: I am doubtful as to my success in catching the colloquial-romantic tone appropriate for such narratives, but the thing had to be done or else my main object, to give a book of English Fairy Tales which English children will listen to, would have been unachieved. Who acts: I, success, thing, English 
---

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# English Fairy Tales, \_to My Dear Little May\_, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I am doubtful as to my success in catching the colloquial-romantic tone appropriate for such narratives, but the thing had to be done or else my main object, to give a book of English Fairy Tales which English children will listen to, would have been unachieved.

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**Who acts:** I, success, thing, English children · **What happens:** be, catch, have, do, give, listen · **To what, where:** romantic tone, book, English Fairy Tales

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, \_to My Dear Little May\_. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, success, thing, English children), 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:pg7439:3:45
# text = I am doubtful as to my success in catching the colloquial-romantic tone appropriate for such narratives, but the thing had to be done or else my main object, to give a book of English Fairy Tales which English children will listen to, would have been unachieved.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	doubtful	doubtful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	7	case	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	fixed	_	_
6	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	success	success	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	catching	catch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
11	colloquial	colloquial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	romantic	romantic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	tone	tone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
15	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	narratives	narrative	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	xcomp	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	else	else	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
29	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
30	main	main	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	object	object	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	_
39	Fairy	Fairy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	_
40	Tales	Tale	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	36	nmod	_	_
41	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	45	obj	_	_
42	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nsubj	_	_
44	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
45	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	acl:relcl	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
48	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
49	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	aux	_	_
50	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	51	aux:pass	_	_
51	unachieved	unachiev	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | as my success; doubtful *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **catch** | gerund | my success *not said here* | the romantic tone |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tone=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | past | the thing |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **do** | to-infinitive · passive | the thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V» |
| 5 | **give** | to-infinitive | the thing *not said here* | a book of English Fairy Tales |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent book=Theme |
| 6 | **listen** | future | English children | English Fairy Tales |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **unachiev** | would · perfect · passive | the thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (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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