---
title: “I’m afraid I am, sir,” said Alice; “I can’t remember things as I us… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: “I’m afraid I am, sir,” said Alice; “I can’t remember things as I used—and I don’t keep the same size for ten minutes together!” Who acts: Alice, promising. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar, sentence 30

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I’m afraid I am, sir,” said Alice; “I can’t remember things as I used—and I don’t keep the same size for ten minutes together!”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Alice, promising · **What happens:** be, say, not remember, use, not keep · **To what, where:** things, same size · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Alice, promising), 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:pg11:6:30
# text = “I’m afraid I am, sir,” said Alice; “I can’t remember things as I used—and I don’t keep the same size for ten minutes together!”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	’m	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	sir	sir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	remember	remember	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
19	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
32	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	34	nummod	_	_
34	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
35	together	together	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Alice |  |  |  |  | sir *vocative*; afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Alice |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **remember** *in a quote* | can | promising | things |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent thing=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **use** *in a quote* | past | promising |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **keep** *in a quote* | present · do-support | promising | the same size |  |  | minute | together *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent size=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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