---
title: Tom done nothing but take the fellow by the scruff o' the neck and t… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Tom done nothing but take the fellow by the scruff o' the neck and the waistband of his corduroys, and fling him into the canal. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Lad With the Goat-skin, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, The Lad With the Goat-skin, sentence 26

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Tom done nothing but take the fellow by the scruff o' the neck and the waistband of his corduroys, and fling him into the canal.

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**What happens:** do, take, fling · **To what, where:** fellow, Tom, canal

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Lad With the Goat-skin. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg7885:33:26
# text = Tom done nothing but take the fellow by the scruff o' the neck and the waistband of his corduroys, and fling him into the canal.
1	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
4	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	fellow	fellow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	scruff	scruff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	o	of	ADP	IN	Abbr=Yes	14	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	waistband	waistband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	corduroys	corduroy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	fling	fling	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	into	into	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	canal	canal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **take** | infinitive |  |  | the fellow |  |  | by the scruff of the neck and the waistband of Tom's corduroys | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument fellow=Destination |
| 3 | **fling** | infinitive |  | Tom |  | the canal |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent he=Theme into canal=Destination |

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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:** «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.

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