---
title: He seemed to see them all pass before him, each more beautiful than… — The Velveteen Rabbit · tree and pragmatics
description: He seemed to see them all pass before him, each more beautiful than the other, the fairy huts in the flower-bed, the quiet evenings in the wood when he lay in the bracken and the little ants ran over his paws; the wonderful day when he first knew that he was Real. Who acts: Boy, little ants. A sente
---

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# The Velveteen Rabbit, Opening, sentence 189

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He seemed to see them all pass before him, each more beautiful than the other, the fairy huts in the flower-bed, the quiet evenings in the wood when he lay in the bracken and the little ants ran over his paws; the wonderful day when he first knew that he was Real.

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**Who acts:** Boy, little ants · **What happens:** seem, see, pass, lie, run, know · **To what, where:** canes, bracken, paws · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, little ants), 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:pg11757:1:189
# text = He seemed to see them all pass before him, each more beautiful than the other, the fairy huts in the flower-bed, the quiet evenings in the wood when he lay in the bracken and the little ants ran over his paws; the wonderful day when he first knew that he was Real.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	advmod	_	_
7	pass	pass	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
8	before	before	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	13	nsubj	_	_
12	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	13	advmod	_	_
13	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	fairy	fairy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	huts	hut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	evenings	evening	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
33	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	bracken	bracken	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
43	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	conj	_	_
44	over	over	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl:unmarked	_	_
51	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	54	advmod	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	54	advmod	_	_
54	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
55	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
56	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
57	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	cop	_	_
58	Real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | Boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | canes *= cane* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 3 | **pass** | present |  |  |  |  | before Boy |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before he=Location |
| 4 | **lie** | past | Boy |  |  | the bracken |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in bracken=Location |
| 5 | **run** | past | the little ants |  |  | Boy's paws |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over paw=Trajectory |
| 6 | **know** | past | Boy |  |  |  | day | first *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is** | past | Boy |  |  |  |  | real *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.

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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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