---
title: “Here! you may nurse it a bit, if you like!” the Duchess said to Ali… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: “Here! you may nurse it a bit, if you like!” the Duchess said to Alice, flinging the baby at her as she spoke. Who acts: Alice, Duchess. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter VI. Pig and Pepper, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VI. Pig and Pepper, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Here! you may nurse it a bit, if you like!” the Duchess said to Alice, flinging the baby at her as she spoke.

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**Who acts:** Alice, Duchess · **What happens:** nurse, like, say, fling, speak · **To what, where:** Alice, baby · **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 (Alice, Duchess), 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:pg11:7:71
# text = “Here! you may nurse it a bit, if you like!” the Duchess said to Alice, flinging the baby at her as she spoke.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Duchess	Duchess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	flinging	fling	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nurse** *in a quote* | may | Alice |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **like** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | Alice |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **say** *speech: express* | past | the Duchess |  | Alice |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to alice=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **fling** | gerund | the Duchess *not said here* | the baby |  |  |  | at Duchess | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent baby=Theme at she=Destination |
| 5 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Duchess |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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