---
title: Now his mother used to say to him: “Tommy, Tommy, be a good boy, and… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Now his mother used to say to him: “Tommy, Tommy, be a good boy, and don't go out of the street, or else Mr. Miacca will take you.” Who acts: mother, Miacca. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Mr. Miacca, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Mr. Miacca, sentence 2

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Now his mother used to say to him: “Tommy, Tommy, be a good boy, and don't go out of the street, or else Mr. Miacca will take you.”

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**Who acts:** mother, Miacca · **What happens:** use, say, be, not go out, take · **To what, where:** Tommy, good boy, street · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Mr. Miacca. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, Miacca), 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:pg7439:36:2
# text = Now his mother used to say to him: “Tommy, Tommy, be a good boy, and don't go out of the street, or else Mr. Miacca will take you.”
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	Tommy	Tommy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	Tommy	Tommy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
24	out	out	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
30	else	else	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
31	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nmod:desc	_	_
32	Miacca	Miacca	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
33	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
35	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | Tommy's mother | Tommy and Tommy |  |  | now |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Tommy's mother *not said here* |  | Tommy |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | a good boy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **go out** *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support |  | the street |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **take** *in a quote* | future | Miacca  Mr. |  | Tommy |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument you=Destination |

<!-- .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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