---
title: “Once upon a time there were three little sisters,” the Dormouse beg… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: “Once upon a time there were three little sisters,” the Dormouse began in a great hurry; “and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well—” Who acts: three little sisters, names, sisters. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VII. A Mad Tea-Party, sentence 104

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“Once upon a time there were three little sisters,” the Dormouse began in a great hurry; “and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well—”

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**Who acts:** three little sisters, names, sisters · **What happens:** be, begin, live, name · **To what, where:** three little sisters, great hurry, Elsie, bottom

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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 (three little sisters, names, sisters), 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:pg11:8:104
# text = “Once upon a time there were three little sisters,” the Dormouse began in a great hurry; “and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well—”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	7	advmod	_	_
3	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	7	expl	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
9	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Dormouse	Dormouse	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	hurry	hurry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
21	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	names	name	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	Elsie	Elsie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	Lacie	Lacie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	Tillie	Tillie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | past |  | three little sisters |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **begin** | past | three little sisters |  |  | a great hurry |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | sisters's names | Elsie and Lacie and Tillie |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **live** *in a quote* | past | names *= name* |  |  | the bottom of a well |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at bottom=Location |
| 5 | **name** *in a quote* |  | sisters *= sister* |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=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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