---
title: While she was trying to fix on one, the cook took the cauldron of so… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: While she was trying to fix on one, the cook took the cauldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work throwing everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby—the fire-irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes. Who acts: Alice, cook, fire irons. A sente
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VI. Pig and Pepper, sentence 50

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
While she was trying to fix on one, the cook took the cauldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work throwing everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby—the fire-irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes.

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**Who acts:** Alice, cook, fire irons · **What happens:** try, fix, take, set, work, throw · **To what, where:** cauldron, fire, everything, baby, shower

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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 (Alice, cook, fire irons), 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:pg11:7:50
# text = While she was trying to fix on one, the cook took the cauldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work throwing everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby—the fire-irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	fix	fix	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cook	cook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	cauldron	cauldron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	off	off	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	24	obl	_	_
24	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	throwing	throw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
28	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	27	obj	_	_
29	within	within	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	reach	reach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
32	at	at	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Duchess	Duchess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
40	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	irons	iron	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
43	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	acl:relcl	_	_
44	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	43	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	47	punct	_	_
46	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	47	advmod	_	_
47	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
48	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	shower	shower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	saucepans	saucepan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
53	plates	plate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	dishes	dish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past · progressive | Alice |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **fix** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Alice *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on one | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **take** | past | the cook | the cauldron of soup |  | the fire |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent cauldron=Theme off fire=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **set** | participle | the cook *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **work** | to-infinitive | the cook *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **throw** | gerund | the cook *not said here* | everything |  |  |  | within Alice's reach; at the Duchess and the baby | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent everything=Theme at duchess=Destination |
| 7 | **come** | past | the fire irons | the baby *not said here* |  |  |  | first *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location baby=Theme |
| 8 | **follow** | past | the cook *not said here* | a shower of saucepans and plates |  |  | then |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shower=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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