---
title: He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping i… — The Velveteen Rabbit · tree and pragmatics
description: He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him. Who acts: Boy, coat. A sentence of «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Opening, with 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/186/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Velveteen Rabbit](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/) / [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/) / 186

# The Velveteen Rabbit, Opening, sentence 186

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Boy, coat · **What happens:** shiver, use, sleep, wear, hug, not be · **To what, where:** little, Boy, proper bed, coat, protection

<!-- .vabout -->
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, coat), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg11757:1:186
# text = He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	shivering	shiver	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	12	advmod	_	_
11	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
13	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	sleeping	sleep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	det	_	_
23	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	coat	coat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
28	so	so	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	xcomp	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	threadbare	threadbare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	conj	_	_
32	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
33	hugging	hug	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	advcl	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
37	no	no	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	33	advmod	_	_
39	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	40	det	_	_
40	protection	protection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shiver** | past · progressive | Boy | a little |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | past · perfect · passive |  | Boy |  |  |  | always *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **sleep** | gerund |  |  |  | a proper bed |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in bed=Location |
| 4 | **wear** | past · perfect · passive |  | Boy's coat |  |  | time | thin *property* | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **hug** | gerund |  | any protection | Boy |  |  |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent protection=Co-Agent |
| 6 | **not** **is** | past | coat |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 185](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/185/)
- next →: [sentence 187](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/187/)
- ↑ back to [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/)