---
title: It may be necessary, I find, to explain to the little ones that Tom… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It may be necessary, I find, to explain to the little ones that Tom Tit can only be referred to as “that,” because his name is not known till the end. Who acts: I, Tom. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, I. Tom Tit Tot., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# English Fairy Tales, I. Tom Tit Tot., sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It may be necessary, I find, to explain to the little ones that Tom Tit can only be referred to as “that,” because his name is not known till the end.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, Tom · **What happens:** be, find, explain, refer, not know, name · **To what, where:** little ones, Tom, name

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, I. Tom Tit Tot.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Tom), 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:pg7439:51:9
# text = It may be necessary, I find, to explain to the little ones that Tom Tit can only be referred to as “that,” because his name is not known till the end.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	find	find	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	explain	explain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obj	_	_
16	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	Tit	Tit	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	flat	_	_
18	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
19	only	only	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	referred	refer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	acl:relcl	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	obl	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
28	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
33	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
34	till	till	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | may |  |  |  |  |  | necessary *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **find** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **explain** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  | the little ones |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to one=Recipient |
| 4 | **refer** | can · passive |  | Tom |  |  |  | as the little ones | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **know** | present · passive |  | Tom's name |  |  | till the end |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 6 | **name** |  | Tom |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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