---
title: It means much the same thing,” said the Duchess, digging her sharp l… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: It means much the same thing,” said the Duchess, digging her sharp little chin into Alice’s shoulder as she added, “and the moral of _that_ is—‘Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.’” Who acts: world, Duchess, sounds. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter IX. The Mock Turtle’s Story, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It means much the same thing,” said the Duchess, digging her sharp little chin into Alice’s shoulder as she added, “and the moral of \_that\_ is—‘Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.’”

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**Who acts:** world, Duchess, sounds · **What happens:** mean, say, dig, add, be, take · **To what, where:** same thing, sharp little chin, care · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter IX. The Mock Turtle’s Story. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (world, Duchess, sounds), 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:pg11:10:19
# text = It means much the same thing,” said the Duchess, digging her sharp little chin into Alice’s shoulder as she added, “and the moral of _that_ is—‘Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.’”
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Duchess	Duchess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	digging	dig	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
14	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
15	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	chin	chin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
18	into	into	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	’s	's	PART	POS	_	19	case	_	_
21	shoulder	shoulder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	added	add	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	moral	moral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	parataxis	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	_	_	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	29	punct	_	_
34	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	Take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
38	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	sounds	sound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
46	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
48	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	47	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	47	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | world | the same thing |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Topic |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | the Duchess |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **dig** *in a quote* | gerund | the Duchess *not said here* | Duchess's sharp little chin |  |  |  | into Alice's shoulder | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.patient»: agent=Agent chin=Instrument into shoulder=Patient |
| 4 | **add** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | Duchess |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of the sense; take *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **take** | future | the sounds | care |  |  |  | of sounds *= sound* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent care=Theme of themselves=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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:** «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Project Gutenberg book 11 (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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