--- title: “I’m afraid I can’t put it more clearly,” Alice replied very politel… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics description: “I’m afraid I can’t put it more clearly,” Alice replied very politely, “for I can’t understand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing.” Who acts: Caterpillar, Alice. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter V. Advice fr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/6/10/) [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 V. Advice from a Caterpillar](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/6/) / 10 # Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar, sentence 10 “I’m afraid I can’t put it more clearly,” Alice replied very politely, “for I can’t understand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing.” **Who acts:** Caterpillar, Alice · **What happens:** be, not put, reply, not understand, begin · **To what, where:** least, many different sizes · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Caterpillar, Alice), 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:pg11:6:10 # text = “I’m afraid I can’t put it more clearly,” Alice replied very politely, “for I can’t understand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 ’m be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 4 afraid afraid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 csubj _ _ 5 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 6 ca can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 8 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 7 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 8 advmod _ _ 8 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 ccomp _ _ 9 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 obj _ _ 10 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 11 advmod _ _ 11 clearly clearly ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ” " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ 14 Alice Alice PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ _ 15 replied reply VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 16 very very ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 politely politely ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 19 “ " PUNCT `` _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 for for SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 21 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 22 ca can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 23 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 24 advmod _ _ 24 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 parataxis _ _ 25 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ _ 26 myself myself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 24 obj _ _ 27 to to PART TO _ 28 mark _ _ 28 begin begin VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 advcl _ _ 29 with with ADP IN _ 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 ; ; PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 32 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 36 cop _ _ 33 so so ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 34 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 35 different different ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 36 sizes size NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ _ 37 in in ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nmod _ _ 40 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 42 cop _ _ 41 very very ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 42 confusing confusing ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 42 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 ” " PUNCT '' _ 42 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | | | | | | afraid *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **not** **put** *in a quote* | can | the Caterpillar *= caterpillar* | least | | | | clearly *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent it=Goal | | 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Alice | | | | | politely *property* | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **not** **understand** *in a quote* | can | Alice | least | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **begin** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Alice *not said here* | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 6 | **is a** *in a quote* | gerund | | many different sizes | | | day | | tree rules | | 7 | **is** *in a quote* | present | | | | | | confusing *property* | tree rules | 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 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/6/9/) - next →: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/6/11/) - ↑ back to [Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/6/)