---
title: I’ll try and say ‘_How doth the little_—’” and she crossed her hands… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: I’ll try and say ‘_How doth the little_—’” and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do:— Who acts: I, Paris, voice, words. A sentence of «Alice's Adventure
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter II. The Pool of Tears, sentence 40

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I’ll try and say ‘\_How doth the little\_—’” and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do:—

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**Who acts:** I, Paris, voice, words · **What happens:** try, say, do, cross, begin, repeat · **To what, where:** little, hands, lap, lessons, same · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter II. The Pool of Tears. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Paris, voice, words), 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:pg11:3:40
# text = I’ll try and say ‘_How doth the little_—’” and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do:—
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	’ll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
6	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
9	doth	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’	'	SYM	SYM	_	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	crossed	cross	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	lap	lap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
29	lessons	lesson	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	repeat	repeat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
40	sounded	sound	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
41	hoarse	hoarse	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	xcomp	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	nsubj	_	_
48	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
49	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	50	advmod	_	_
50	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	obj	_	_
53	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
54	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
55	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	advcl	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | future | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** | present |  | the little |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent little=Eventuality |
| 4 | **cross** *in a quote* | past | Paris | Paris's hands |  | Paris's lap |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past · progressive | Paris | lessons |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent lesson=Topic |
| 6 | **begin** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **repeat** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | lap |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 8 | **sound** *in a quote* | past | Paris's voice |  |  |  |  | hoarse *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 9 | **not** **come** *in a quote* | past · do-support | the words | the same |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location same=Theme |
| 10 | **use** *in a quote* | past | words *= word* |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 11 | **do** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | words *= word* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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