---
title: There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and th… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. Who acts: table, March Hare, D
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VII. A Mad Tea-Party, sentence 1

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There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head.

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**Who acts:** table, March Hare, Dormouse, other two · **What happens:** be, set out, have, sit, use, rest · **To what, where:** table, tree, tea, Dormouse, elbows, head

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This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter VII. A Mad Tea-Party. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (table, March Hare, Dormouse, other two), 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:pg11:8:1
# text = There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
5	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	under	under	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	March	March	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	Hare	Hare	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	Hatter	Hatter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
25	tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	Dormouse	Dormouse	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	parataxis	_	_
33	between	between	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	32	advmod	_	_
37	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	44	nsubj	_	_
43	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	using	use	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	conj	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	as	as	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	cushion	cushion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
50	resting	rest	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	conj	_	_
51	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	elbows	elbow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obj	_	_
53	on	on	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	conj	_	_
58	over	over	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
60	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a table |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **set out** | participle |  | a table *not said here* |  | a tree |  | in front of the house | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | past · progressive | the March Hare and the Hatter | tea |  | table |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tea=Patient |
| 4 | **sit** | past · progressive | a Dormouse |  |  |  |  | between Hare; fast *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent between they=Location |
| 5 | **use** | past · progressive | the other two | Dormouse |  |  |  | as a cushion | vn spend\_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent it=Duration as cushion=Attribute |
| 6 | **rest** | gerund | a Dormouse *not said here* | Hare's elbows |  | table |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent elbow=Theme on it=Location |
| 7 | **talk** | gerund | a Dormouse *not said here* |  |  | table's head |  |  | 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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