---
title: The executioner’s argument was, that you couldn’t cut off a head unl… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: The executioner’s argument was, that you couldn’t cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from: that he had never had to do such a thing before, and he wasn’t going to begin at _his_ time of life. Who acts: argument, body, dispute, executioner. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonde
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VIII. The Queen’s Croquet-Ground, sentence 108

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The executioner’s argument was, that you couldn’t cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from: that he had never had to do such a thing before, and he wasn’t going to begin at \_his\_ time of life.

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**Who acts:** argument, body, dispute, executioner · **What happens:** not be, be, cut off, not have, do, not go · **To what, where:** body, thing

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This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter VIII. The Queen’s Croquet-Ground. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (argument, body, dispute, executioner), 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:pg11:9:108
# text = The executioner’s argument was, that you couldn’t cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from: that he had never had to do such a thing before, and he wasn’t going to begin at _his_ time of life.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	executioner	executioner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	’s	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	argument	argument	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:outer	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	off	off	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	17	expl	_	_
17	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	acl	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	off	off	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	parataxis	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	35	det:predet	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
36	before	before	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
40	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	42	advmod	_	_
42	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	conj	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	xcomp	_	_
45	at	at	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
46	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	49	punct	_	_
49	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | could · past | the executioner's argument |  |  |  |  | cut *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a body |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **cut off** | to-infinitive | a body *not said here* | body |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector it=Eventuality |
| 4 | **not** **have** | past · perfect | dispute |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **do** | to-infinitive | dispute *not said here* | such thing |  |  |  | before *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 6 | **not** **go** | past · progressive | dispute |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **begin** | to-infinitive | dispute *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 8 | **argue** |  | the executioner |  |  |  |  |  | nom argument «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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