--- title: “I can’t explain _myself_, I’m afraid, sir,” said Alice, “because I’… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics description: “I can’t explain _myself_, I’m afraid, sir,” said Alice, “because I’m not myself, you see.” Who acts: Alice, you. 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 clause. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/6/8/) [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/) / 8 # Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar, sentence 8 “I can’t explain \_myself\_, I’m afraid, sir,” said Alice, “because I’m not myself, you see.” **Who acts:** Alice, you · **What happens:** not explain, be, say, not be, see · **To what, where:** Alice · **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 (Alice, you), 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:pg11:6:8 # text = “I can’t explain _myself_, I’m afraid, sir,” said Alice, “because I’m not myself, you see.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 ca can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 4 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 explain explain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 ccomp _ _ 6 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 myself myself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes 5 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 8 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ’m be VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 12 afraid afraid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 14 sir sir NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 vocative _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 ” " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 17 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 18 Alice Alice PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 20 “ " PUNCT `` _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 because because SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 22 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ’m be VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 28 advcl _ _ 24 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 23 advmod _ _ 25 myself myself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 27 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 see see VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 29 . . PUNCT . _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 ” " PUNCT '' _ 28 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **explain** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | can | Alice | Alice | | | | sir *vocative* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **be** *in a quote* | present | Alice | | | | | afraid *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Alice | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **not** **be** *in a quote* | present | Alice | Alice | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **see** *in a quote* | present | you | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | 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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/6/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/6/9/) - ↑ back to [Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11/6/)