---
title: It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply a… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the smallest idea how to set about it; and while she was peering about anxiously among the trees, a little sharp bark just over her head made her look up in a great hurry. Who acts:
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter IV. The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill, sentence 111

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the smallest idea how to set about it; and while she was peering about anxiously among the trees, a little sharp bark just over her head made her look up in a great hurry.

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**Who acts:** plan, thing, only difficulty · **What happens:** sound, arrange, have, set, peer, be · **To what, where:** excellent plan, smallest idea, head

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter IV. The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (plan, thing, only difficulty), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg11:5:111
# text = It sounded an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged; the only difficulty was, that she had not the smallest idea how to set about it; and while she was peering about anxiously among the trees, a little sharp bark just over her head made her look up in a great hurry.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sounded	sound	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	excellent	excellent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	doubt	doubt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	very	very	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	neatly	neatly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	simply	simply	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	arranged	arrange	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	difficulty	difficulty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	advcl	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	smallest	small	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	28	amod	_	_
28	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
29	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	31	advmod	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	acl	_	_
32	about	about	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
36	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
37	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	peering	peer	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	54	advcl	_	_
40	about	about	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	anxiously	anxiously	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
42	among	among	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
47	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
48	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	conj	_	_
50	just	just	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
51	over	over	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
54	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
55	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obj	_	_
56	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	54	xcomp	_	_
57	up	up	ADP	RP	_	56	compound:prt	_	_
58	in	in	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
59	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
60	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	61	amod	_	_
61	hurry	hurry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sound** | past | plan | a excellent plan |  |  |  | the only difficulty *obl*; neatly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location plan=Theme |
| 2 | **arrange** | participle | plan *not said here* |  |  |  |  | simply *property* | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **have** | past | thing | the smallest idea |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idea=Patient |
| 4 | **set** | to-infinitive | thing *not said here* | the smallest idea *not said here* |  |  |  | about plan | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent about it=Destination |
| 5 | **peer** | past · progressive | thing |  |  | thing's head |  | among the trees and a little sharp bark; anxiously *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent among tree=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | past | the only difficulty *not said here* |  |  |  |  | make *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **look up** | infinitive | the only difficulty *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in a great hurry | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in hurry=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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