---
title: So they began solemnly dancing round and round Alice, every now and… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: So they began solemnly dancing round and round Alice, every now and then treading on her toes when they passed too close, and waving their forepaws to mark the time, while the Mock Turtle sang this, very slowly and sadly:— Who acts: words, Mock Turtle. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter X. The Lobster Quadrille, sentence 31

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So they began solemnly dancing round and round Alice, every now and then treading on her toes when they passed too close, and waving their forepaws to mark the time, while the Mock Turtle sang this, very slowly and sadly:—

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** words, Mock Turtle · **What happens:** begin, dance, tread, pass, wave, mark · **To what, where:** Alice, toes, forepaws, this

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter X. The Lobster Quadrille. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (words, Mock Turtle), 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:pg11:11:31
# text = So they began solemnly dancing round and round Alice, every now and then treading on her toes when they passed too close, and waving their forepaws to mark the time, while the Mock Turtle sang this, very slowly and sadly:—
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	solemnly	solemnly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
6	round	round	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	round	round	ADV	RB	_	6	conj	_	_
9	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
12	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
15	treading	tread	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	toes	toe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
19	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	advmod	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
22	too	too	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	waving	wave	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	forepaws	forepaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	mark	mark	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	Mock	Mock	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	Turtle	Turtle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
39	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	very	very	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	sadly	sadly	ADV	RB	_	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | words *= word* |  |  |  |  | solemnly *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **dance** | gerund | words *= word* *not said here* | Alice |  |  |  | round *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location alice=Theme |
| 3 | **tread** | gerund | words *= word* *not said here* |  |  | Alice's toes | now; then |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on toe=Trajectory |
| 4 | **pass** | past | words *= word* |  |  |  |  | close *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **wave** | gerund | words *= word* *not said here* | words's forepaws |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent forepaw=Patient |
| 6 | **mark** | to-infinitive | words *= word* *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | the Mock Turtle | this |  |  |  | slowly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location this=Theme |

<!-- .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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