---
title: She had just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, an… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: She had just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her face, and was be
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar, sentence 81

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She had just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her face, and was beating her violently with its wings.

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**Who acts:** neck, leaves, sharp hiss, hurry · **What happens:** succeed, curve down, go, dive in, find, be · **To what, where:** head, graceful zigzag, leaves, nothing, trees, neck

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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 (neck, leaves, sharp hiss, hurry), 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:pg11:6:81
# text = She had just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her face, and was beating her violently with its wings.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	succeeded	succeed	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	curving	curve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	down	down	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	graceful	graceful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	zigzag	zigzag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	dive	dive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	in	in	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	among	among	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
25	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	cop	_	_
29	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	26	obj	_	_
30	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	tops	top	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	_
36	under	under	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	41	obl	_	_
38	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
39	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
40	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	41	aux	_	_
41	wandering	wonder	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
43	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	47	mark	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	hiss	hiss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
47	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl:relcl	_	_
48	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	_
49	draw	draw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	xcomp	_	_
50	back	back	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	hurry	hurry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	59	punct	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
56	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
57	pigeon	pigeon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nsubj:pass	_	_
58	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	flown	fly	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	53	acl:relcl	_	_
60	into	into	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
62	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
64	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
65	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	66	aux	_	_
66	beating	beat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
67	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	68	nmod:poss	_	_
68	violently	violently	ADV	RB	_	66	advmod	_	_
69	with	with	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
70	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	71	nmod:poss	_	_
71	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **succeed** | past · perfect | neck |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **curve down** | gerund | neck *not said here* | head |  | a graceful zigzag |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent it=Material into zigzag=Product |
| 3 | **go** | past · progressive | neck *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **dive in** | to-infinitive | neck *not said here* |  |  | the leaves |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent among leaf=Location |
| 5 | **find** | past | the leaves |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | nothing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past · perfect · progressive | neck |  |  | the trees |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **make** | past | a sharp hiss | neck |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **draw back** | infinitive | neck *not said here* |  |  | a hurry |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in hurry=Destination |
| 10 | **fly** | past · perfect · passive | a hurry *not said here* | a large pigeon |  | neck's face |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme into face=Trajectory |
| 11 | **beat** | past · progressive | neck *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with head's wings; violently *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with wing=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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