---
title: The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great lette… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter, nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other, saying, in a solemn tone, “For the Duchess. Who acts: Fish Footman, this. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter VI. Pig and Pe
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VI. Pig and Pepper, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter, nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other, saying, in a solemn tone, “For the Duchess.

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**Who acts:** Fish Footman, this · **What happens:** begin, produce, hand over, say · **To what, where:** great letter, arm, other, solemn tone · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter VI. Pig and Pepper. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fish Footman, this), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg11:7:4
# text = The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter, nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other, saying, in a solemn tone, “For the Duchess.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	Fish	Fish	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	Footman	Footman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	producing	produce	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	advcl	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	under	under	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	as	as	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
19	as	as	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	nsubj	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	handed	hand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
26	over	over	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
31	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	solemn	solemn	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	tone	tone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	41	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	For	for	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	Duchess	Duchess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the Fish Footman |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **produce** | gerund | the Fish Footman *not said here* | a great letter |  | frog's arm |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent letter=Result from arm=Material |
| 3 | **hand over** | past | this |  |  | the other |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to other=Destination |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | this *not said here* |  |  | a solemn tone for the Duchess |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in tone=Manner |

<!-- .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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