---
title: “What day of the month is it?” he said, turning to Alice: he had tak… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: “What day of the month is it?” he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear. Who acts: day, Hatter. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter VII. A Mad T
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VII. A Mad Tea-Party, sentence 29

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“What day of the month is it?” he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.

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**Who acts:** day, Hatter · **What happens:** be, say, turn, take, look, shake · **To what, where:** thing, Alice, watch, pocket · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (day, Hatter), 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:pg11:8:29
# text = “What day of the month is it?” he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	3	det	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	expl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Alice	Alice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	watch	watch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	out	out	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	pocket	pocket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	_
33	uneasily	uneasily	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
35	shaking	shake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	conj	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	36	det	_	_
38	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	35	advmod	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	38	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	conj	_	_
44	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	_
45	to	to	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *in a quote* | present | what day of the month | thing |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | Hatter |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **turn** | gerund | Hatter *not said here* |  | Alice |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to alice=Result |
| 4 | **take** | past · perfect | Hatter | Hatter's watch |  | Hatter's pocket |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent watch=Theme out pocket=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **look** | past · progressive | Hatter *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at thing; uneasily *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at it=Theme |
| 6 | **shake** | gerund | Hatter *not said here* | watch |  |  | now |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 7 | **hold** | gerund | Hatter *not said here* | watch |  |  |  | to Hatter's ear | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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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