---
title: He came so close this time that his long whiskers brushed the Velvet… — The Velveteen Rabbit · tree and pragmatics
description: He came so close this time that his long whiskers brushed the Velveteen Rabbit's ear, and then he wrinkled his nose suddenly and flattened his ears and jumped backwards. Who acts: Rabbit, long whiskers. A sentence of «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Opening, with its dependency tre
---

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# The Velveteen Rabbit, Opening, sentence 127

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He came so close this time that his long whiskers brushed the Velveteen Rabbit's ear, and then he wrinkled his nose suddenly and flattened his ears and jumped backwards.

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**Who acts:** Rabbit, long whiskers · **What happens:** come, brush, wrinkle, flatten, jump · **To what, where:** ear, nose, ears

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This is a sentence of «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Rabbit, long whiskers), 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:pg11757:1:127
# text = He came so close this time that his long whiskers brushed the Velveteen Rabbit's ear, and then he wrinkled his nose suddenly and flattened his ears and jumped backwards.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
9	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	whiskers	whisker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	brushed	brush	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	Velveteen	Velveteen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	's	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	wrinkled	wrinkle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	flattened	flatten	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	jumped	jump	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
31	backwards	backwards	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | Rabbit |  |  |  | time | close *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **brush** | past | Rabbit's long whiskers | the Velveteen Rabbit's ear |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent ear=Theme |
| 3 | **wrinkle** | past | Rabbit | Rabbit's nose |  |  | then | suddenly *property* | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent nose=Patient |
| 4 | **flatten** | past | Rabbit *not said here* | Rabbit's ears |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ear=Patient |
| 5 | **jump** | past | Rabbit *not said here* |  |  |  |  | backwards *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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:** «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Project Gutenberg book 11757 (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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