---
title: “I don’t believe it,” said the Pigeon; “but if they do, why then the… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: “I don’t believe it,” said the Pigeon; “but if they do, why then they’re a kind of serpent, that’s all I can say.” Who acts: Pigeon, eggs. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cla
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar, sentence 107

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I don’t believe it,” said the Pigeon; “but if they do, why then they’re a kind of serpent, that’s all I can say.”

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**Who acts:** Pigeon, eggs · **What happens:** not believe, say, do, 're · **To what, where:** child, kind · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Pigeon, eggs), 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:pg11:6:107
# text = “I don’t believe it,” said the Pigeon; “but if they do, why then they’re a kind of serpent, that’s all I can say.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Pigeon	Pigeon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
19	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	’re	're	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	30	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	22	conj	_	_
31	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **believe** *in a quote* | present · do-support | the Pigeon *= pigeon* | child |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Pigeon |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | eggs *= egg* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **'re** *in a quote* | past | eggs *= egg* | a kind of serpent |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | can | the Pigeon *= pigeon* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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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