--- title: Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part 1: Stuck in the White Rabbit's house — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part 1: Stuck in the White Rabbit's house», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: The White Rabbit comes back hunting for his lost fan and gloves, mistakes Alice for his housemaid --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/) [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 IV, part… # Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part 1: Stuck in the White Rabbit's house Lesson 7 of the books course of Mova's primary school: 26 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/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/0/) — The White Rabbit comes back hunting for his lost fan and gloves, mistakes Alice for his housemaid Mary Ann, and sends her running home to fetch them; she is too startled to argue. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/1/) — In his neat little house she finds the fan and gloves, but also a bottle with no label, and, sure that something interesting will happen, she drinks it. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/2/) — She grows and grows until she fills the whole room, with one arm out of the window and one foot up the chimney, and she wonders half sadly, half curiously what will become of her. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/3/) — The Rabbit can't get in at the door, so he tries the window; Alice snatches at the air, hears a shriek and breaking glass, and guesses he has fallen into a cucumber-frame. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/4/) — The Rabbit and his gardener Pat argue about the giant arm in the window, and a second snatch brings two shrieks and more broken glass: a scary situation turned into a funny one. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/5/) — The Rabbit mutters "The Duchess! - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/6/) — The Duchess! ... - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/7/) — She'll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets!"; "executed" means put to death, and ferrets are small hunting animals that chase rabbits. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/8/) — The great hall, the glass table and the little door have "vanished completely". - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/9/) — The Rabbit calls out "Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing out here?" and orders her to fetch "a pair of gloves and a fan"; Alice says "He took me for his housemaid". - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/10/) — The little house has a bright brass plate on the door reading "W. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/11/) — RABBIT", and Alice goes in without knocking and hurries upstairs, afraid of meeting the real Mary Ann and being turned out. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/12/) — She imagines Dinah sending her "on messages" (errands), and thinks they would not let Dinah stay in the house if she began "ordering people about like that". - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/13/) — In a tidy room she finds a fan and "two or three pairs of tiny white kid gloves", and near the looking-glass (mirror) a little bottle with no label. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/14/) — She drinks because "I know something interesting is sure to happen" "whenever I eat or drink anything". - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/15/) — Before she has drunk half the bottle her head presses against the ceiling; she ends with one arm out of the window and one foot up the chimney. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/16/) — She thinks "It was much pleasanter at home", but also "it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life!", and says "There ought to be a book written about me". - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/17/) — She jokes "I'm grown up now", because there is "no room to grow up any more here", and wonders if she will never get older: no old age, but lessons for ever; then she answers herself: "How can you learn lessons in here? - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/18/) — Why, there's hardly room for you, and no room at all for any lesson-books!" - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/19/) — The door opens inwards and Alice's elbow is pressed against it, so the Rabbit cannot open it. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/20/) — Alice is now "about a thousand times as large as the Rabbit", yet she "trembled till she shook the house" when she hears him coming, forgetting she has no reason to be afraid. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/21/) — Her snatch out of the window brings "a little shriek and a fall, and a crash of broken glass"; a cucumber-frame is a low glass box that keeps young plants warm, like a tiny greenhouse. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/22/) — Pat says he is "Digging for apples, yer honour!" ("yer honour" = sir), which is nonsense, since apples grow on trees; the Rabbit calls him "you goose" (silly), Pat says the thing in the window is "an arm", and the Rabbit orders him to take it away: "Do as I tell you, you coward!" - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/23/) — After the second snatch Alice thinks "I'm sure I don't want to stay in here any longer!" - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/24/) — Carroll makes fun of Pat's Irish way of speaking ("arrum" for arm); laughing at people for their accents was a common old habit, and it is wrong and unkind today. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/7-alice-ch4-part1-the-rabbits-house/25/) — Old words in today's English: "lest" = in case, "directly" = at once, "as a last resource" = as the last thing left to try, "no sort of chance" = no chance at all. - ← previous: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter III, part 2: Prizes, a long tale, and Dinah again](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/6-alice-ch3-part2-a-long-tale/) - next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter IV, part 2: Little Bill, the pebbles and the puppy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/8-alice-ch4-part2-little-bill/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)