--- title: The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and co… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics description: The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not taste theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on the back. Who acts: next thing, this, large birds, birds. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/4/52/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/) / [Chapter III. A Caucus-Race and a Long…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/4/) / 52 # Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter III. A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale, sentence 52 The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not taste theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on the back. **Who acts:** next thing, this, large birds, birds, small ones · **What happens:** be, cause, complain, not taste, choke, have · **To what, where:** noise · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter III. A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (next thing, this, large birds, birds), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg11:4:52 # text = The next thing was to eat the comfits: this caused some noise and confusion, as the large birds complained that they could not taste theirs, and the small ones choked and had to be patted on the back. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 next next ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 eat eat VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 comfits comfit NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 : : PUNCT : _ 11 punct _ _ 10 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 11 nsubj _ _ 11 caused cause VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 12 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 13 det _ _ 13 noise noise NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 15 confusion confusion NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 17 as as SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 birds bird NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 nsubj _ _ 21 complained complain VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 22 that that SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 23 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 24 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 25 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 26 advmod _ _ 26 taste taste VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 ccomp _ _ 27 theirs their PRON PRP Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 31 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 ones one NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 nsubj _ _ 33 choked choke VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 35 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 conj _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 37 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 38 aux:pass _ _ 38 patted pat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 35 xcomp _ _ 39 on on ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 back back NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the next thing | | | | | eat *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **cause** | past | this | some noise and confusion | | | | | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition noise=Patient | | 3 | **complain** *speech: other* | past | the large birds | | | | | | vn complain-37.8 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **not** **taste** | could | birds *= bird* | noise | | | | | vn seem-109 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Theme their=Attribute | | 5 | **choke** | past | the small ones | | | | | | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **have** | past | the small ones *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **pat** | to-infinitive · passive | the small ones *not said here* | | | | | on the back | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.theme PP.instrument»: on back=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/4/51/) - next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/4/53/) - ↑ back to [Chapter III. A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/4/)