---
title: The sack had been left untied, and so by wriggling a bit he was able… — The Velveteen Rabbit · tree and pragmatics
description: The sack had been left untied, and so by wriggling a bit he was able to get his head through the opening and look out. Who acts: Boy. 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 185

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The sack had been left untied, and so by wriggling a bit he was able to get his head through the opening and look out.

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**Who acts:** Boy · **What happens:** leave, wriggle, be, get, look out · **To what, where:** sack, bit, head, opening

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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 (Boy), 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:pg11757:1:185
# text = The sack had been left untied, and so by wriggling a bit he was able to get his head through the opening and look out.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sack	sack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	untied	untied	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
10	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	wriggling	wriggle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	through	through	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	opening	opening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
26	out	out	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | past · perfect · passive |  | the sack |  |  |  | untied *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **wriggle** | gerund | Boy *not said here* | a bit |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | Boy |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **get** | to-infinitive | Boy *not said here* | Boy's head |  | the opening |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer head=Stimulus |
| 5 | **look out** | infinitive | Boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: 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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