--- title: Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part 2: A Mad Tea-Party (the treacle-well and the garden at last) — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part 2: A Mad Tea-Party (the treacle-well and the garden at last)», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: The Hatter finishes his tale: the Queen screamed «He's murdering the tim --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/) / Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part… # Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part 2: A Mad Tea-Party (the treacle-well and the garden at last) Lesson 14 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 21 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/1/) — The Hatter finishes his tale: the Queen screamed «He's murdering the time! - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/2/) — Off with his head!», and ever since, Time won't help him. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/3/) — It is always six o'clock, always tea-time, so they never wash up; they just move round the table to clean cups. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/4/) — Alice asks what happens when they get back to the start, and the March Hare quickly changes the subject. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/5/) — They wake the Dormouse for a story: three sisters, Elsie, Lacie and Tillie, who live at the bottom of a well and eat nothing but treacle. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/6/) — Alice keeps asking sensible questions, and the answers get sillier and sillier. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/7/) — When Alice says there is no such thing as a treacle-well, the Dormouse sulks; she promises not to interrupt, and breaks the promise almost at once. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/8/) — The Hatter wants a clean cup, everyone moves one place on, and Alice ends up at the March Hare's messy place, where the milk-jug has been knocked over. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/11/) — She walks off; looking back, she sees them trying to stuff the Dormouse into the teapot. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/13/) — Then she finds a door in a tree, comes back to the long hall from chapter one, and this time does it in the right order: key first, then mushroom, down to a foot high, through the little passage, and at last into the beautiful garden with bright flower-beds and cool fountains. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/14/) — When the Hatter sang at the concert, the Queen «bawled out» (shouted) «He's murdering the time! - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/15/) — Off with his head!»; to murder the time also means to sing it badly out of rhythm. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/16/) — «It's always six o'clock now,» says the Hatter; Alice has a bright idea: «Is that the reason so many tea-things are put out here?», and the Hatter says yes; so it is always tea-time, and there is no time to wash the things «between whiles» (in between). - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/18/) — The Dormouse's three sisters are Elsie, Lacie and Tillie; they live at the bottom of a well, on treacle; Alice asks what they lived on because she «always took a great interest in questions of eating and drinking»; treacle is thick sweet syrup, like golden syrup or molasses. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/19/) — Alice says they would have been ill; the Dormouse answers «So they were, very ill». - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/20/) — «Take some more tea,» says the March Hare; Alice has had none, so she «can't take more»; the Hatter says she means she can't take less, because «it's very easy to take more than nothing». - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/21/) — Alice snaps «Nobody asked your opinion», and the Hatter asks «Who's making personal remarks now?» — she has done the very thing she scolded him for. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/22/) — When Alice says a treacle-well is no such thing, the Dormouse sulks: «If you can't be civil, you'd better finish the story for yourself»; Alice says «I dare say there may be one» (I dare say = I suppose). - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/24/) — «Well in» is a pun: the sisters are in the well, and «well in» also means deep inside. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/25/) — When the Hatter wants a clean cup, all move one place on; only the Hatter gains, and Alice is worse off, because the March Hare had upset the milk-jug into his plate. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/26/) — The sisters draw everything that begins with M: «mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness»; «much of a muchness» is an old saying for nearly the same. - ← previous: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter VII, part 1: A Mad Tea-Party (no room, riddles and Time)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/13-alice-a-mad-tea-party-1/) - next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter VIII, part 1: The Queen's Croquet-Ground (painting the roses red)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/15-alice-the-queens-croquet-ground-1/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)