--- title: Alice in Wonderland, chapter V, part 1: Advice from a Caterpillar — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Alice in Wonderland, chapter V, part 1: Advice from a Caterpillar», a lesson of the books course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: The Caterpillar and Alice stare at each other in silence until it slowly asks, "Who are you?", and Alice, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/) [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 V, part 1… # Alice in Wonderland, chapter V, part 1: Advice from a Caterpillar Lesson 9 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/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/0/) — The Caterpillar and Alice stare at each other in silence until it slowly asks, "Who are you?", and Alice, after so many changes of size, honestly does not know. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/1/) — Every answer she gives, the Caterpillar contradicts in a few rude words, and when she asks who IT is, it just says "Why?", so she starts to walk away. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/4/) — At last it crawls away, saying that one side of the mushroom will make her taller and the other side shorter: a prickly, puzzling talk that ends with a real clue. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/5/) — The Caterpillar speaks in "a languid, sleepy voice" ("languid" = slow and lazy) and asks "Who are you?" - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/6/) — Alice answers "I—I hardly know, sir, just at present—at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then." - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/7/) — She says "I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir, because I'm not myself, you see"; "not myself" can mean feeling strange, and Alice also means it truly: she has changed. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/8/) — Alice says "being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing", and the Caterpillar answers "It isn't". - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/9/) — The Caterpillar answers in very short words: "I don't see", "It isn't", "Not a bit", "Why?" - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/10/) — Alice tells it that one day it will turn into a chrysalis (the hard case a caterpillar rests in) and then into a butterfly, which is true of real caterpillars. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/11/) — The Caterpillar's important advice is "Keep your temper", meaning stay calm and do not get angry. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/12/) — Alice says she tried "How doth the little busy bee" but "it all came different". - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/13/) — In "You are old, Father William" a young man asks his father, in this order, why he stands on his head, how he turns a back-somersault, how he ate a whole goose with the bones and the beak, and how he balances an eel on his nose; the old man says his jaw got strong because he "argued each case with my wife". - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/14/) — Father William's answers are silly: he no longer fears hurting his brain because he is "perfectly sure I have none", and he tries to sell his son an ointment at "one shilling the box" (a shilling was an old British coin). - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/15/) — The poem ends: "I have answered three questions, and that is enough," "Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!" - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/16/) — Carroll's poem makes fun of a serious old poem that children had to learn by heart, in which a wise old man gives good advice. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/17/) — The Caterpillar says "It is wrong from beginning to end." - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/18/) — Asked what size she wants to be, Alice first says "I'm not particular as to size", but adds that "one doesn't like changing so often". - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/19/) — Alice says "three inches is such a wretched height to be" ("wretched" = miserable), and the Caterpillar, "exactly three inches high", says "It is a very good height indeed!" - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/20/) — Alice thinks "I wish the creatures wouldn't be so easily offended!"; back in chapter III she said the same to the Mouse: "you're so easily offended, you know!"; the Caterpillar tells her "You'll get used to it in time." - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/21/) — Leaving, the Caterpillar says "One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter", and, as if hearing her thought, adds "Of the mushroom." - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/22/) — Old words in today's English: "sternly" = strictly, "contemptuously" = with scorn, "give yourself airs" = act as if you are better than others, "supple" = bendy, "suet" = hard fat used in cooking. - ← previous: [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/) - next →: [Alice in Wonderland, chapter V, part 2: The mushroom, the long neck and the Pigeon](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/10-alice-ch5-part2-the-pigeon/) - ↑ back to [Books](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/)