---
title: Alice could see, as well as if she were looking over their shoulders… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: Alice could see, as well as if she were looking over their shoulders, that all the jurors were writing down “stupid things!” on their slates, and she could even make out that one of them didn’t know how to spell “stupid,” and that he had to ask his neighbour to tell him. Who acts: Alice, jurors, one
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/12/17/)

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter XI. Who Stole the Tarts?, sentence 17

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Alice could see, as well as if she were looking over their shoulders, that all the jurors were writing down “stupid things!” on their slates, and she could even make out that one of them didn’t know how to spell “stupid,” and that he had to ask his neighbour to tell him.

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**Who acts:** Alice, jurors, one, Rabbit, neighbour · **What happens:** see, look, write down, make out, not know, spell · **To what, where:** stupid things, slates, stupid, Rabbit · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter XI. Who Stole the Tarts?. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Alice, jurors, one, Rabbit), 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:pg11:12:17
# text = Alice could see, as well as if she were looking over their shoulders, that all the jurors were writing down “stupid things!” on their slates, and she could even make out that one of them didn’t know how to spell “stupid,” and that he had to ask his neighbour to tell him.
1	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
5	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	11	cc	_	_
6	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	fixed	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	fixed	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
12	over	over	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
17	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	19	det:predet	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	jurors	juror	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	writing	write	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	conj	_	_
22	down	down	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	stupid	stupid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	25	punct	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	slates	slate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	even	even	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
37	out	out	ADP	RP	_	36	compound:prt	_	_
38	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
39	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	44	nsubj	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nmod	_	_
42	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	44	advmod	_	_
44	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	advcl	_	_
45	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	47	advmod	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	spell	spell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
48	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	stupid	stupid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	49	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
53	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
54	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
55	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	conj	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	_
58	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	_
60	to	to	PART	TO	_	61	mark	_	_
61	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	xcomp	_	_
62	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | could | Alice |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **look** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · progressive | Alice |  |  |  |  | over spectacles's shoulders | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent over shoulder=Theme |
| 3 | **write down** | past · progressive | all jurors | stupid things |  | jurors's slates |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent thing=Theme on slate=Destination |
| 4 | **make out** | could | Alice |  |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | one of jurors |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **spell** | to-infinitive | one of jurors *not said here* | stupid |  |  |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent stupid=Theme |
| 7 | **have** | past | Rabbit |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | Rabbit's neighbour |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Rabbit's neighbour *not said here* |  | Rabbit |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

<!-- .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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