---
title: They talked about it all, while the little Rabbit lay under the bedc… — The Velveteen Rabbit · tree and pragmatics
description: They talked about it all, while the little Rabbit lay under the bedclothes, with just his head peeping out, and listened. Who acts: orders, little Rabbit, head. A sentence of «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Velveteen Rabbit, Opening, sentence 164

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They talked about it all, while the little Rabbit lay under the bedclothes, with just his head peeping out, and listened.

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**Who acts:** orders, little Rabbit, head · **What happens:** talk, lie, peep out, listen · **To what, where:** morrow, bedclothes

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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 (orders, little Rabbit, head), 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:pg11757:1:164
# text = They talked about it all, while the little Rabbit lay under the bedclothes, with just his head peeping out, and listened.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	about	about	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
12	under	under	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	bedclothes	bedclothe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
17	just	just	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	peeping	peep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	conj	_	_
21	out	out	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	listened	listen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past | orders *= order* | morrow |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 2 | **lie** | past | the little Rabbit |  |  | the bedclothes |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent under bedclothe=Location |
| 3 | **peep out** | gerund | Rabbit's head |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **listen** | past | orders *= order* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |

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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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